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F3 tornado in Christian County, Missouri

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Christian County, Missouri

F3
Rating
49.0 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
7
Deaths
48
Injuries
$47.8M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Newton County → Lawrence County → Christian County → Greene 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 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.

The wider storm

This tornado is a continuation of the Lawrence County tornado that laid a half mile wide path of destruction across the Christian County panhandle. Populated areas between the communities of Billings and Clever were affected that resulted in one fatality and three injuries. 27 structures were destroyed while 150 were damaged that added up to around 5.1 million dollars of monetary losses. The tornado continued on the ground into southwestern Greene County.Ruth Little age 63, was taking cover in her frame home with her husband and daughter. As the tornado struck, she was thrown about 50 yards from her location and was deceased from injury. Her husband and daughter survived the event.

Began near Billings (37.0167, -93.6333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5358169. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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