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F3 tornado in Valley County, Nebraska

Tornado June 3, 1999 · Valley County, Nebraska

F3
Rating
14.0 mi
Path length
1,000 yd
Path width
$1.5M
Damage as recorded
$1.0M
Crop damage
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 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

Late in the evening of June 3rd, a severe thunderstorm produced a large tornado across northwest Valley county. The thunderstorm entered the western part of the county around 11 pm. Shortly thereafter, the tornado touched down 12 miles west of Ord and snaked its way northeast before lifting after midnight about 7 miles north of Ord. This F3 tornado had a damage path almost one-half mile wide at one point. It completely destroyed two farmsteads and damaged two others along its path. At the two destroyed farmsteads, residents took shelter in the basement upon warning. The tornado tossed cars and farm equipment up to 300 feet, strewn irrigation pipe across the countryside and killed livestock. The two destroyed homes were completely wiped from the foundation. However, given sufficient warning, no one in the storms path was injured or killed.

Began near Ord (41.6000, -99.1700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5705588. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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