This is the best documentation I have for this tape. I put this together to document the state files found in the tornado subdirectory. Please get back to me if you have any questions and let me know how you are using the data. Field Name-Description 1-2 year (50-90) 3-5 Sequence Number (range 000-999) 6-7 State Number, Mi=26, Wi=55 8-9 Month 10-11 Day 12-15 Hour (0000-2400) 16 Time Zone (1=EST, 2=EDT, 3=CST, 4=CDT 5=MST, 6=MDT, 7=PST, 8=PDT, 9=GMT) 17 Time accuracy is expressed as the best estimate of the occurrence of a wind-related event 1=+ or - 15 min 2=+ or - 30 min 3=+ or - 45 min 4=+ or - 60 min 5=+ or - 75 min 6=+ or - 90 min 7=+ or - 105 min 8=+ or - 120 min 9 = >120 min 18 Weather Event 1=Tornado, 2=Funnel Cloud, 3=Waterspout, 4=Waterspout moving onshore, 5=Tornado moving over a large body of water, 6=Hail > 3/4 inch, 7= Winds 50 kts of greater, 8=Hail aloft >3/4 inch, 9=Extreme turbulence 19 Event-Remarks 1=With large hail, 2=With Heavy rain, 3=With large hail and heavy rain, 4=No rain or hail 20 Number of States Involved (Range 1-9) 21 Number of segments needed to report the severe weather event. May include multi-touchdowns and changing characteristics 22 Segment Number 23-26 Latitude Start point (Degrees and Minutes) 27-31 Longitude Start point (Degrees and Minutes) 32-35 Latitude Stop point (Degrees and Minutes) 36-40 Longitude Stop point (Degrees and Minutes) 41-44 Length of track, expressed in 10ths of statute miles 45 Percent of time tornado on the ground 1=10 2=20, 3=30, 4=40, 5=50, 6=60, 7=70, 8=80 9=90, 0=100, blank if unknown 46 Type of path 0=Straight, 1=Sinusoidal, 2=Left turn loop, 3=30 degree turn to left, 4=45 degree turn to left, 5=60 degree turn to left, 6=Right turn loop, 7=30 degree turn to right, 8=45 degree turn to right, 9=60 degree turn to right 47 Visual appearance of tornado 0=Ropelike, 1=Cone shapes, 3=Elephant trunk, 3=Thin column, 4=Thin column, 5=Thick column, 6=Obscured by heavy rain, 7=No visible sign 48 Rotation description 1=Counterclockwise, 2=Clockwise, blank if unknown 49-51 Mean path width of tornado, expressed in tenths of feet 52-54 Number of fatalities (range 000 to 999) 55-58 Number of injuries (range 0000-9999) 59 Coded Damage in dollars 1=<50, 2=50 to 500, 3=500 to 5,000, 4=5,000 to 50,000, 5=50,000 to 500,000, 6=500,000 to 5 million 7=5 million to 50 million 8=50 million to 500 million 9=500 million to 5 billion 60-62 First County within a specific state with damage. See FIPS Publication 6-2 or look at separate fips.doc file Range 000-999 63-65 Second County with damage. Range 000-999 66-68 Third County with damage. Range 000-999 69-71 Fourth County with damage Range 000-999 72-74 Fifth County with damage Range 000-999 75 Scale of Intensity= Fujita Scale 0=Gale Tornado (40-72 mph), Light damage 1=Moderate Tornado (73-112 mph), Moderate damage 2=Significant Tornado (113-157mph), Considerable damage, 3=Severe Tornado (158-206mph), Severe damage, 4=Devastating Tornado (207-260mph), Devastating damage, 5=Incredible Tornado (261-318 mph), Incredible damage 6=(319 to Mach 1, the speed of sound). The maximum wind speeds of tornadoes are not expected to reach F6. 76 Path length of a specific wind-related event 0=<1 mile, 1=1.0 to 3.1 miles, 2=3.2 to 9.9 miles, 3=10-31 miles, 4=32-99 miles, 5=100 miles or more. Default to zero coded value if field blank. 77 blank 78 Width of path measurement for a specific wind-related weather event. 0=<18 yards, 1=18 to 55 yards, 2=56 to 175 yards, 3=176-556 yards, 4=.3 to .9 of a mile, 5= 1 mile or greater. If blank default to zero coded value or convert field 49-51 (if available) from feet to yards 80 Data source code Indicates specific source of information gathered to make the report. 1=Source from clippings, 2=Source from survey 3=National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC) from Storm Data, C=Confirmed from Storm Data (began in 1986), N=Reviewed in Nuclear Regulatory Comission (NRC) study, E=Edited by NSSFC, F=Reviewed by Fujita, 4=Other