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F2 tornado in Harris County, Texas

Tornado October 23, 1997 · Harris County, Texas

F2
Rating
7.0 mi
Path length
440 yd
Path width
$150K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 tornado first touched down on the east shore of Lake Houston and moved northeast into extreme western Liberty County. This tornado was mostly F0 and F1 with some F2 damage at Foley Rd and Dallas Rd where a boat house was extremely damaged. An 18-wheeler in the same area was overturned and moved 50 feet.

Began near Crosby (29.9000, -95.0700).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Montgomery CountyF1 Fort Bend CountyF1 Walker CountyF1 Montgomery CountyF1 Liberty CountyF1 San Jacinto CountyF0 Austin CountyF0 Liberty CountyF0 Liberty CountyF0 San Jacinto CountyF0 Montgomery CountyF0 Polk County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5622590. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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