F4 tornado — Lawrence and Giles County, Tennessee

F4 tornado in Lawrence and Giles County, Tennessee

Tornado May 18, 1995 · Lawrence and Giles County, Tennessee

Rating

29.0 mi

Path length

1,000 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$4.6M

Damage as recorded

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 F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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

The tornado touched down near the Lawrence/Wayne County line near Deerfield and lifted near Campbellsville in Giles County. Two people were killed while outside their trailer in the extreme western part of Lawrence County and a third person was killed while inside a house near Deerfield. Thirty-four houses, 16 mobile homes and one business were destroyed. Ninety-eight houses, three mobile homes and two other buildings were damaged. The tornado pulled corn stalks that were two feet tall out fo the ground and destroyed 6 TVA steel high-tension-wire towers. Three of these towers were never found. A cancelled check from Etheridge was found in Cannon County, some 90 miles away. Seventy-five to 100 people were evacuated in Ethridge because of downed power lines. (F48H,M65H,M67H)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10348737. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F4 tornado in Lawrence and Giles County, Tennessee

What the National Weather Service wrote

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