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F1 tornado in Rankin County, Mississippi

Tornado April 6, 2003 · Rankin County, Mississippi

F1
Rating
4.0 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$300K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 tornado downed and snapped a few hundred trees, damaged a roof and blew out some windows on a house.

The wider storm

To put the entire event into perspective, areas just to the N of Interstate 20 and extending W to E across the entire state, experienced a 125 year rainfall event. Rainfall totals ranged from 7 to 12 inches which all fell in about 18 hours. Due to the large amounts of rain, river flooding quickly became a major problem. The Pelahatchie Creek experienced a 100 year flood. The Chunky River, at Chunky, set a new record. This river actually flooded a portion of Interstate 20 which had to be closed for a few hours. The Chickasawhay River at Enterprise also set a record. In addition to all the flash flooding, the river flooding caused major damage to homes and flooded numerous roads.

Began near Fannin (31.7333, -89.9833).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Lincoln CountyF1 Hinds CountyF1 Copiah CountyF0 Humphreys CountyF0 Newton CountyF0 Lauderdale CountyF0 Yazoo CountyF0 Yazoo CountyF0 Madison CountyF0 Issaquena CountyF0 Warren County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5350593. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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