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F3 tornado in Cross County, Arkansas

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Cross County, Arkansas

Rating

16.0 mi

Path length

275 yd

Path width

Injuries

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 275 yards (0.16 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

The tornado moved into Cross County from Woodruff County near Tilton and moved east. Five homes were destroyed and four others were damaged in Tilton. Another three homes were damaged in Vanndale.

Began near Tilton (35.8667, -90.3333).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Craighead County F2 Mississippi County F1 Mississippi County F1 Mississippi County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5356153. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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