F3 tornado — Hall County, Georgia

F3 tornado in Hall County, Georgia

Tornado March 20, 1998 · Hall County, Georgia

Rating

13.0 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

Deaths

171

Injuries

$20.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hall County → White 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 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.

The wider storm

The tornado began in northwest Hall county and moved into southern White county. Total distance covered was about 13 miles. Aerial and ground surveys by NWS employees showed extensive damage along the path. There was significant damage to Lanier Elementary School and North Hall High School. Houses, trailers, businesses, and agricultural interests (namely the poultry industry) were demolished or damaged. Large areas of forest were flattened. A tractor-trailer truck was thrown 100 feet from the road into a school, killing the driver. All of the other 11 persons killed were in mobile homes. The damage path varied from 50 to 200 yards, but averaged around 100 yards wide.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5633550. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Hall County, Georgia

The wider storm

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