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F3 tornado in Knox County, Texas

Tornado May 13, 2005 · Knox County, Texas

F3
Rating
16.5 mi
Whole path
1,000 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Knox County → Baylor County → Baylor County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado began in Knox County and traveled just over 16 miles, eventually moving into Baylor County for less than a half a mile before dissipating 3.3 miles SW of Bomarton. The storm was being seeded by precipitation from another supercell just to its southwest and the tornado was apparently rain-wrapped throughout its duration. However mobile research radars, Doppler on Wheels (DOW), were able to track this tornado. The initial path of the tornado was to the south-southwest crossing U.S. Highway 82. The tornado then generally moved to the southeast for the rest of its life. This tornado moved through sparsely populated areas with no reported damage. Preliminary analysis of data from the Doppler On Wheels indicated a maximum wind velocity of 79 m/s (about 177 mph) at 30 m above ground level which was measured at 1829 CST when the tornado was in open country about 6 miles south of Vera.

Began near Vera (33.6333, -99.6333).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F1 Knox County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5449017. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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