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F3 tornado in McPherson County, South Dakota

Tornado August 24, 2006 · McPherson County, South Dakota

F3
Rating
14.0 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
1
Injury
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 supercell thunderstorm produced an F3 tornado in southwest Mcpherson county. The tornado was on the ground for nearly a half hour and covered about 14 miles. The tornado touched down near the Campbell county line. There were four different sites damaged with the greatest damage 8 miles south of Eureka and 2 miles southeast of Hillsview. Damage included numerous power poles snapped off, trees shredded of leaves, bark and/or uprooted. Numerous livestock and deer were killed. Devastating damage was observed to farm equipment, homes, barns, grain bins, and vehicles. A well anchored mobile home was completely destroyed. Debris from each site was observed up to 3 miles away. One person received minor scrapes and bruises.

Began near Eureka (45.6667, -99.6833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5532358. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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