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F3 tornado in Clermont County, Ohio

Tornado July 2, 1997 · Clermont County, Ohio

F3
Rating
12.0 mi
Path length
500 yd
Path width
$2.0M
Damage as recorded
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 multiple vortex tornado tracked across the southern part of the county. The tornado damaged or destroyed 56 mobile homes and 27 single family homes. Several barns and sheds were destroyed and numerous trees were downed. No serious injuries or deaths occurred with this tornado.

The wider storm

A low pressure system with an unusually strong mid and upper level jet streak was moving across the Great Lakes with an associated cold front moving across the upper Ohio valley. Thunderstorms developed across Indiana and moved into West-Central Ohio around mid-afternoon with a distinct bow echo causing wind damage from near to Lima to southeast of Columbus. On the southern edge of the first line of storms, a supercell developed over Central Indiana. This storm evolved into a bow echo and swept across the Dayton metro area causing extensive wind damage and a brief tornado in Greene county. Another supercell developed near Cincinnati and moved southeastward along the Ohio River. This storm produced the F3 tornado in Clermont county.

Began near Moscow (38.8500, -84.1800).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5612101. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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