F3 tornado — Mobile County, Alabama

F3 tornado in Mobile County, Alabama

Tornado November 21, 1997 · Mobile County, Alabama

Rating

1.0 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

$2.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. 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

An F3 tornado touched down just east of I-65 in Saraland near Shelton Beach Estates. The tornado skipped east northeast along the ground before lifting back into the cloud near U S Highway 43. Three homes were almost completely gone, three more suffered major damage and about sixty homes in the middle-class neighbourhood suffered some damage. Most of the damage was consistent with an F1 or F2 tornado. No one was injured. Several people knew they were under a tornado warning and were able to take cover before the storm struck. Most of the residents said they did not hear the familiar "Freight Train Sound" before the tornado struck.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5619960. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Mobile County, Alabama

What the National Weather Service wrote

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