F3 tornado in Wright County, Minnesota

Tornado July 1, 1997 · Wright County, Minnesota

Rating

5.0 mi

Path length

800 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 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

House completely destroyed on west side of Birch Lake.

Began near Howard Lake (45.1200, -94.0200).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Wright County F2 Wright County F1 Isanti County F1 Pope County F1 Wright County F1 Anoka County F1 Washington County F1 Kandiyohi County F1 Kandiyohi County F0 Meeker County F0 Meeker County F0 Renville County F0 Kandiyohi County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5616226. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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