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F4 tornado in Henderson County, Tennessee

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Henderson County, Tennessee

Rating

60.0 mi

Whole path

880 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$40.1M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Madison County → Madison County → Henderson County → Henderson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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 same tornado that produced substantial damage to the city of Jackson continued into Henderson county and moved through the city of Lexington. Thirty-six homes were destroyed and nearly 1,000 homes were damaged. Seven commercial buildings were destroyed and another 73 were damaged including the Everett Horn Library.

Began near Luray (35.6167, -88.6333).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F2 Weakley County F2 Dyer County F2 Henry County F1 Weakley County F1 Carroll County F1 Dyer County F1 Dyer County F1 Henry County F1 Gibson County F1 Gibson County F0 Gibson County F0 Dyer County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5356966. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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