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F3 tornado in Christian County, Missouri

Tornado March 12, 2006 · Christian County, Missouri

F3
Rating
42.0 mi
Whole path
250 yd
Path width
1
Death
8
Injuries
$55.6M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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

This tornado is a continuation of the Lawrence County tornado. Significant structural damage occurred across the Christian County panhandle in a rural area between Billings and Clever. This area was also heavily impacted by the 4 May 2003 tornado. A subdivision with solid well built homes northwest of Nixa was directly impacted by the tornadoes destruction. 138 structures were damaged while 127 structures were destroyed. The tornado weakened as it tracked into southern Greene County, impacting southern sections of the city of Springfield.

Began near Clever (37.0333, -93.6333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5493712. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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