Fifty-three (53) tornado damage paths were mapped and included in this study. These ranged from very small and weak tornadoes, with paths as short as .1 mile and a Fujita rating of F-0, to very large tornadoes, with paths as long as 37.5 miles and a Fujita rating of F-5.
The prefix letter in the tornado system (ie. A or B or C, etc.) refers to the parent storm producing the tornado.
For instance, all of the tornadoes with A in the prefix (A1,A2,A3.A14) were all produced from the same tornadic thunderstorm at different times along the storm's path.
These are referred to as tornado "families" and represent multiple stages in each thunderstorm's evolution and life. The family system codes were developed by damage surveyors with the
National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma following the May 3 outbreak.
As the paths were together moved slightly east/west and north/south for each of the five North Central Texas scenarios, some of the tornadoes would shift to either intersect the outer study boundary or
lie completely outside of it. In these cases, only the portion of the tornadoes that fit in the study area received calculations for damages.
The chart below lists all of the tornadoes, their strength, size, hour of primary impact, and the proportion of each tornado's damage path
that fell within the study area during each of the scenarios.
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