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F3 tornado in Rutherford County, Tennessee

Tornado April 28, 2002 · Rutherford County, Tennessee

F3
Rating
3.2 mi
Path length
350 yd
Path width
31
Injuries
$2.3M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 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

31 people were injured. Most of them were treated and released from the hospital. 6 people had to be hospitalized, and one person was seriously injured and had to be Life-Flighted to Vanderbilt hospital. 7 mobile homes were destroyed, and one mobile home had major damage and another mobile home had minor damage. 5 residences were destroyed, 10 residences had major damage and 36 residences had minor damage. 2 horse banrs were destroyed, and 6 horses/and or cattle were killed. The tornado touched down on W. Gum Road, just west of I-24. Interstate 24 was littered with tree limbs and debris at one point. The tornado lifted up around Mankin-McKnight Rd. This storm complex moved into Cannon county and produced another tornado near Bradyville.Damage assessment in Rutherford county by the Emergency Management Agency was placed at 2.3 million dollars.

Began near Murfreesboro (35.7500, -86.3667).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Cannon CountyF0 Maury County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5288178. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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