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F3 tornado in Beadle County, South Dakota

Tornado August 24, 2006 · Beadle County, South Dakota

F3
Rating
24.5 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$15.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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

A tornado, entering Beadle County from Hand County to the west, destroyed 8 houses, damaged at least 7 other houses, and destroyed or damaged numerous farm buildings. One of the destroyed houses and several destroyed small buildings were on a farmstead 2 miles south of Wessington, and five large high voltage transmission towers were blown down about 3 miles southeast of Wessington. A woman was cut on the neck at one farm southwest of Wolsey where the house and all other buildings were destroyed; the injury was not life threatening. The tornado tossed a car and 2 pickups up to 50 feet at the same farm. Another non life threatening injury occurred southeast of Wolsey, again on a farm where the house and all buildings were destroyed. Several vehicles were destroyed or damaged. The tornado killed 10 head of cattle at one farmstead just south of Wolsey. The tornado snapped off numerous power poles, caused widespread tree damage, and severely damaged a bridge where it crossed U.S. Highway 14. The tornado also caused crop damage, but the amount of crop damage was not known. The tornado dissipated one and a half miles southwest of Huron.

Began near Wessington (44.4167, -98.6833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5528106. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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