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F2 tornado in Calloway County, Kentucky

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Calloway County, Kentucky

Rating

1.8 mi

Path length

60 yd

Path width

$350K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 60 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 tornado began along Highway 732 about one quarter mile east of Highway 94. It then moved northeast, roughly parallel to Highway 94, for almost two miles. Six homes received minor to moderate damage. Numerous trees were down, two barns were destroyed, and several others were damaged. Peak winds were estimated near 120 MPH.

The wider storm

A supercell thunderstorm moved northeast from Tennessee, producing straight-line wind damage from the southeast corner of Graves County to Murray. The storm then spawned a tornado northeast of Murray.

Began near Murray (36.6833, -88.2333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5353625. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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