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F3 tornado in Norton County, Kansas

Tornado June 3, 1999 · Norton County, Kansas

Rating

10.0 mi

Path length

1,320 yd

Path width

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,320 yards (0.75 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

A large tornado dropped down just east of the town of Norton and stayed on the ground for approximately 10 miles before finally lifting north-northeast of the town of Almena. This Tornado reached around 3/4 of a mile wide at times and did major (F3) damage to a few farmsteads. Tornado also went through a stage with multiple vortices.

Began near Norton (39.8300, -99.8000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5702911. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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