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F3 tornado in Morgan County, Tennessee

Tornado November 10, 2002 · Morgan County, Tennessee

Rating

8.3 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$968K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

A strong F3 tornado (with wind speeds estimated around 175 mph) touched down 4.4 miles south of Wartburg in the Mossy Grove community killing 5 people and injuring 28. This tornado then struck Joyner at 8:40 P.M. killing two more people for a total of 7 dead. The tornado damaged 63 homes while destroying 24 others. In addition, 18 mobile homes were damaged and 12 others were destroyed.

Began near Wartburg (36.0333, -84.6000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5322729. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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