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F1 tornado in Bell County, Texas

Tornado May 27, 1997 · Bell County, Texas

F1
Rating
4.4 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 extremely severe supercell thunderstorm produced its sixth tornado about half a mile west of the Prairie Dell exit on I-35. The tornado was observed to be nearly stationary in a field for about 10 minutes then it moved quickly south-southwest. Trees were destroyed and several structures were damaged. The tornado dissipated near the location where County Road 304 crosses the Bell-Williamson County line. A short time later, a violent tornado developed and devastated the community of Jarrell in northern Williamson County.

Began near Prairie Dell (30.9000, -97.5800).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F3 Bell CountyF1 Bell CountyF0 Bell County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5597318. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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