National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) (ONETOR,FHAIL,FWIND) Format

Blank spaces are assumed to be missing data

Distributions are from ONETOR through 1995

Column Da ta Range Comments - ***[Distributions are counts of records
NOT counts of tornadoes]{.underline}***

1 (A) FID Feature ID -- tornado number per file.

2 (B) Shape Shape file (.shp) type

3 (C) Object ID Tornado sequence number since 1950.

4 (D) Year 1950-2005 Four digits (to be 2000 compliant)

5 (E) Num 1-232 Number of tornado in state in given year.

6 (F) State 1-99 FIPS Number of State (1-Alabama, 2-Alaska, 4-Arizona,
5-Arkansas, 6-California, 8-Colorado, 9-Connecticut, 10-Delaware,
11-District of Columbia, 12-Florida, 13-Georgia, 15-Hawaii, 16-Idaho,
17-Illinois, 18-Indiana, 19-Iowa, 20-Kansas, 21-Kentucky, 22-Louisiana,
23-Maine, 24-Maryland, 25-Massachusetts, 26-Michigan, 27-Minnesota,
28-Mississippi, 29-Missouri, 30-Montana, 31-Nebraska, 32-Nevada, 33-New
Hampshire, 34-New Jersey, 35-New Mexico, 36-New York, 37-North Carolina,
38-North Dakota, 39-Ohio, 40-Oklahoma, 41-Oregon, 42-Pennsylvania,
44-Rhode Island, 45-South Carolina, 46-South Dakota, 47-Tennessee,
48-Texas, 49-Utah, 50-Vermont, 51-Virginia, 53-Washington, 54-West
Virginia, 55-Wisconsin, 56-Wyoming, 97 (98 in 1999) -Virgin Islands,
98-Virgin Islands, 99-Porto Rico) \-- For multi state tornadoes, the
"1\" record gives the state of initial touchdown

7 (G) Month 1-12 Number of Month.

8 (H) Day 1-31 Number of Day.

9 (I) Date MM/DD/YY Paradox Coded Date.

10 (J) Time 0.00-23.98 Decimal Format - 24 Hour Clock - Central Standard
Time \... (6:15 pm CST=18.25 ).

11 (K) Zone 0-9 Time Zone (0=?, 1-EST, 2=EDT, 3=CST, 4=CDT, 5=MST,
6=MDT, 7=PST, 8=PDT, 9=GMT) -- [They All should be 3 (CST)]{.underline}
-- During 1950-1997, the distribution was: 0-9; 1-1,617; 2-52; 3-33,255;
4-84; 5-838; 6-28; 7-107; 8-15; 9-2). We are checking these and the
associated times against "Storm Data." The data set will be "corrected"
when the check is finished.

12 (L) Tor. No. \-\-- A count of tornadoes during the year. For 1998 on
these numbers agree with the number assigned to the tornado by OM.

13 (M) Type 1-7 Type of Event (1-Tornado, 4-Waterspout moving ashore,
5-Tornado moving over large body of water,6-hail greater than 3/4\" in
diameter,7-winds greater than 50 kts or damaging wind ). 4 and 5 last
used in 1979. During 1950-1997, the distribution was: 1-35,832; 4-143;
5-32.

14 (N) Rmks 0-5 Tornado Event Remarks (0-none, 1-with large hail, 2-with
heavy rain, 3-with large hail and heavy rain, 4 no rain or hail, 5-?).
Rarely been from 1983 on. During 1950-1997, the distribution was:
0-31,186; 1-975; 2-2012; 3-982; 4-851; 5-1.

15 (O) No-Sts 1-3 Number of states traversed by the tornado. During
1950-1997, the distribution was: 1-35269; 2=717; 3=21. This is blank for
non-tornado entries. Note this is NOT a count of tornadoes, it is a
count of records.

16 (P) State-Tor 1-9 A flag if 1 that this is a unique state
entry\...the number of tornadoes in a state is a count of the 1 entries
(Note if a tornado leaves a state and re-enters it, there are two 1
entries in this column.

17 (Q) Segno 1,2,-9 A flag indicating the nature of the record . This is
blank for non-tornadoes. During 1950-1997, the distribution was:
1-35,435; 2-484, -9-88)

1 designates a record is for a tornadoes entire path. (each tornado has
1 and only 1 record). A count of 1 records is a count of tornadoes.

2 designates of state information on a tornado that effects more than 1
state. If a tornado touches 2 states, it has two 2 records; 3 states it
has three 2 cards (if a tornado leaves and renters a state, it has two 2
records for that state, and one 2 record for the in between state. On 21
Nov. 1992 a tornado touched down in Kentucky crossed the Ohio River into
Indiana, and re-crossed the river going back into Kentucky).

-9 indicates a continuation record listing additional counties affected
by the tornado. A -9 record does not have latitudes, longitudes,
lengths, widths, fatalities, or injuries listed.

18 (R) Stlat The latitude of touchdown (tornado type 1 record, wind,
hail) or of entry point into state (tornado type 2 record). Decimal
format (90.50 = 90^o^30\"). Not on tornado -9 records.

19 (S) Stlon The longitude of touchdown (tornado type 1 record, wind
hail) or of entry point into state (tornado type 2 record). Decimal
format (90.50 = 90^o^30\"). Not on tornado -9 records. Negative
coordinate corresponds to western hemisphere.

20 (T) Splat The latitude of lift-off (type 1 record) or of exit point
into state (type 2 record), only given if point is differentiable from
the (stlat,stlon) point. Decimal format (90.50 = 90^o^30\"). Not on 9
records.

21 (U) Splon The longitude of lift-off (type 1 record) or of exit point
into state (type 2 record), only given if point is differentiable from
the (stlat,stlon) point. Decimal format (90.50 = 90^o^30\"). Not on 9
records. Negative coordinate corresponds to western hemisphere.

22 (V) Lgth 0-2347 Length of tornado track if known in tenths of statute
miles (146 = 14.6 miles). Since this accounts for nonlinear tracks so
the result might not be the same as the great circle distance from
touchdown to lift-off points. Not given for 9 records. The minimum
length is assumed to be 0.1 mi (ie =1). A width is computed for each
"segment" (state) that a tornado effects. Blank on hail and wind
records.

23 (W) Ongd 0-9 Percent of tornado path on the ground in tens of per
cent (I..E., 5=50%) and 0 denoting 100%. This was an attempt to account
for the damage area of "skipping" tornadoes. Not given for 9 records.
During 1950-1997, the distribution was: 0-31,026; 1-306; 2-295; 3-325;
4-189, 5-1,335; 6-232; 7-271; 8-378; 9-318. Rarely used after 1983.
Blank on hail and wind records.

24 (X) Area \-\-- Tornado path area in square miles. Blank on hail and
wind records.

25 (Y) F\*AREA \-\-- Path area in square miles multiplied by the
F-scale. Blank on hail and wind records.

26 (Z) Rot 0,1,2,3,6 An indicator for sense of tornado rotation
(1-counterclockwise; 2-clockwise; 3-?; 6-?; blank if unknown). During
1950-1997, the distribution was: 0-35,584; 1-1,015; 2-54; 3-5; 6-1. Not
given on -9 records. Not used since 1986 Blank on hail and wind records.

27 (AA) Width 0-999 Prior to 1996, this is mean tornado path width (if
known) in tens of feet (528 = 5280 feet = 1 mile). The mean width along
the entire track is reported. If a multi state event, it should be the
same in all 2 records. Not given on -9 records. The minimum width is
assumed to be 30 feet (ie = 3). A width is computed for each "segment"
(state) that a tornado effects. Blank on hail and wind records.

For 1996 and later years, this is [maximum]{.underline} path width to
correspond to maximum damage used for the F-scale.

28 (AB) Fatal 0-116 Fatalities. A breakdown by state is given in 2
records. Not given on -9 records.

29 (AC) Inj 0-1740 Injuries. A breakdown by state is given in 2 records.
Not given for 9 records.

30 (AD) Damage 0-9 Prior to 1996, this is a categorization of tornado
damage by dollar amount (0 or blank-unknown; 1\<\$50; 2-\$50 to \$500;
3-\$500 to \$5,000; 4=\$5,000 to \$50,000; 5-\$50,000-\$500,000;
6-\$500,000 to \$5,000,000; 7-\$5,000,000 to \$50,000,000;
8-\$50,000,000 to \$500,000,000; 9\>\$5000,000,000). Not given for -9
records. During 1950-1995, the distribution was: 0-10,351; 1-1,593;
2-1,619; 3-5,159; 4-8,868; 5-6,087; 6-1,835; 7-373; 8-36; 9-0.

For 1996 and later years, this is actual damage estimates in millions of
dollars.

Starting with 1996 this is tornado property damage in

millions of dollars.

31 (AE) FIPS Number of first county (or equivalent) hit by event. Not
given on 1 records of multi state tornadoes.

32 (AF) FIPS Number of second county (or equivalent) hit by event. Not
given on 1 records of multi state tornadoes.

33 (AG) FIPS Number of third county (or equivalent) hit by event. Not
given on 1 records of multi state tornadoes.

34 (AH) For tornadoes FIPS Number of fourth county (or equivalent) hit
by tornado. Not given on 1 records of multi state tornadoes.

For Hail, this field contains Hail Size in hundredths of

inches.

For winds, this field contains Maximum Gust in knots.

35 (AI) F -9, 0 to 5 Fujita's F-scale. This is a damage classification.
Wind estimates associated with damage are crude at best. The original
reference is Fujita, T.T., 1971; "Proposed Characterization of Tornadoes
and Hurricanes by Area and Intensity," Satellite & Mesometeorology
Research Project, The University of Chicago, 40pp. A -9 indicates that
no estimate of F-Scale is available. All records (1,2,-9) on a given
tornado should have the same value. During 1950-1997, the distribution
was: -9-1,864; 0-11,783; 1-12,700, 2-7,088; 3-1,953; 4-544;, 5-75 (Note
these are records not tornadoes). Blank on hail and wind records.

36 (AJ) DPI Destruction Potential Index-developed by Thompson and Vescio
(1998) and available at
[www.spc.noaa.gov/publications](http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications).
DPI is derived by the following equation

DPI=A(F+1)

Where for this database A is the area of the tornado (path length x path
width) multiplied by F-scale damage plus 1 to allow Fujita's error of
+/- 1 in the damage assessment.

37 (AK) Blank

38 (AL) CODE Same as TORNAD-NO.