F4 tornado — Barton County, Missouri

F4 tornado in Barton County, Missouri

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Barton County, Missouri

Rating

33.0 mi

Whole path

880 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$20.2M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Crawford County, Kansas → Barton 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.

The wider storm

An F-4 tornado tracked over the Kansas-Missouri state line and into west central Barton County. The tornado destroyed several farm houses and outbuildings prior to dissipating one mile north of Liberal. Ten injuries and one fatality can be accounted for from this large tornado. Rex Smith age 88, was in his frame house two miles west of Liberal when the tornado approached. He was deceased from flying debris. While this tornado was dissipating, a second tornado had formed one mile east of Liberal. This feature then tracked 23 miles through mainly rural farm land of central and northeast Barton County, and eventually through Cedar, Polk, Hickory, and Dallas counties. Altogether there were approximately 50 homes and outbuildings that were destroyed from the twisters.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5358087. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F4 tornado in Barton County, Missouri

The wider storm

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address