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F2 tornado in Hickory County, Missouri

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Hickory County, Missouri

Rating

72.0 mi

Whole path

500 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$48.7M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Barton County → Cedar County → Polk County → Hickory County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 is a continuation of the Polk County tornado that entered the extreme southeastern corner of Hickory County prior to moving into Dallas County. A few trees were downed, however, no damage to any structures were observed.

Began near Pittsburg (37.8000, -93.2000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5358176. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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