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F2 tornado in Volusia County, Florida

Tornado February 23, 1998 · Volusia County, Florida

Rating

5.0 mi

Path length

150 yd

Path width

$500K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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 same supercell that produced the Sanford tornado produced an F2 tornado that touched down just west of Interstate 95 about 5 miles west of Oak Hill. The tornado moved northeast at 45 mph blowing down trees destroying two barns and damaging 10 mobile homes and 2 houses. The tornado lifted at the town of Ariel at U.S. Highway 1.

Began near Oak Hill (28.8500, -80.9300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F3 Kissimmee Tornado (1998) 25 dead F3 Seminole County 13 dead F3 Orange County 3 dead F2 Volusia County 1 dead F1 Brevard County F1 Brevard County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5643844. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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