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F3 tornado in Nicollet County, Minnesota

Tornado March 29, 1998 · Nicollet County, Minnesota

F3
Rating
18.0 mi
Whole path
2,200 yd
Path width
1
Death
$120.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Nicollet County → Le Sueur County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 2,200 yards (1.25 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

Tornado made a direct hit on the city of St. Peter and Gustavius Adolphus College. All major buildings on campus suffered varying degrees of damage. The spire on Christ Chapel snapped in half. 70% of the windows on campus were broken. 500 homes were destroyed in St. Peter, 1,700 were damaged. Over 1,000 trees uprooted. One person killed just outside St. Peter when the tornado struck a vehicle. St. Peter Catholic Church destroyed. Hospital severely damaged. Roof ripped off library. 25% of books lost. Debris from St. Peter found 50 miles away in southern suburbs of the Twin Cities. 60 rural homes and farms damaged or destroyed from Courtland to St. Peter. Rural damage estimated at 6.5 million.

Began near Nicollet (44.2800, -94.1700).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F4 Brown County 1 deadF4 Watonwan CountyF2 Le Sueur CountyF2 Rice CountyF1 Rice CountyF0 Dakota County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5638761. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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