Home / Mississippi / Rankin

F3 tornado in Rankin County, Mississippi

Tornado April 24, 2003 · Rankin County, Mississippi

Rating

12.0 mi

Path length

600 yd

Path width

Injuries

$50.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 600 yards (0.34 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

This strong tornado moved directly through downtown Brandon damaging or destroying several businesses, one school and dozens of homes. In addition to structural damage, hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted as the tornado move to the NE.

Began near Brandon (32.2500, -90.0000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F1 Kemper County F0 Hinds County F0 Leake County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5350049. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.