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F3 tornado in Henderson County, Tennessee

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Henderson County, Tennessee

F3
Rating
60.0 mi
Whole path
440 yd
Path width
11
Deaths
86
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.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 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 tornado moved east from Madison County into Henderson county. Some homes were damaged.

Began near Luray (35.5833, -88.6167).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5356968. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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