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F4 tornado in Blue Earth County, Minnesota

Tornado March 29, 1998 · Blue Earth County, Minnesota

Rating

73.0 mi

Whole path

2,200 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$75.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Murray County → Cottonwood County → Brown County → Blue Earth County → Nicollet 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 F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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

See Brown county discussion.

Began near Cambria (44.2300, -94.3500).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F4 Watonwan County F3 Nicollet County 1 dead F2 Le Sueur County F2 Rice County F1 Rice County F0 Dakota County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5638770. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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