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F3 tornado in Houston County, Tennessee

Tornado May 27, 2000 · Houston County, Tennessee

Rating

17.2 mi

Path length

500 yd

Path width

$1.3M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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

The storm complex that produced a tornado in Benton county moved into Houston county and generated a tornado that hit Tennessee Ridge and Erin. The Houston county executive estimated 1.3 million dollars worth of damage. Roofs and walls of some well constructed homes were torn off. Many trees were snapped and blown down along with power lines. The Betty Ligon Pavillion in Erin was flattened. 50 people required shelter at Erin. A storage trailer was moved 50 feet at Tennessee Ridge.

Began near Erin (36.3167, -87.9667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F1 Benton County F0 Montgomery County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5146912. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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