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F3 tornado in Crittenden County, Kentucky

Tornado January 3, 2000 · Crittenden County, Kentucky

F3
Rating
24.0 mi
Whole path
440 yd
Path width
3
Injuries
$7.4M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Crittenden County → Webster County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Although the tornado tracked about 15 miles through the county with estimated top winds of 160 MPH, damage was relatively light due to the rural nature of the land. Based on aerial surveys, structures that were heavily damaged or destroyed included 85 homes, 5 to 10 businesses, and 50 to 80 barns and outbuildings. Three people in the Crayne area were transported to a hospital for non life-threatening injuries. About 35 National Guard personnel were deployed to Crittenden County, primarily for damage assessment and security operations. An emergency shelter was opened to accomodate roughly 25 homeless persons.

Began near Crayne (37.2667, -88.0833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5133317. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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