F3 tornado — Benton County, Arkansas

F3 tornado in Benton County, Arkansas

Tornado March 12, 2006 · Benton County, Arkansas

Rating

19.0 mi

Path length

700 yd

Path width

Injuries

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 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 second tornado moved into western Benton County (from Delaware County, Oklahoma) south of Highway 12, where damage suggested the tornado strengthened considerably. A mobile home was destroyed, a pickup truck was rolled and destroyed, and several homes sustained major damage to their roofs near Bloomfield, where damage was rated at F2. Damage was more extensive in and around Gentry and Centerton where 75 homes were damaged or destroyed. Damage in this area was rated F3. Twelve people were injured by the tornado.See Storm Data for Oklahoma, Eastern for details regarding the Delaware County segment of this tornado.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5493653. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Benton County, Arkansas

What the National Weather Service wrote

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address