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F1 tornado in Adams County, Illinois

Tornado May 10, 2003 · Adams County, Illinois

F1
Rating
30.8 mi
Whole path
150 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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 supercell storm that spawned tornadoes in Monroe, and Marion Counties of Missouri spawned a third tornado in east-central Adams County, Illinois. The tornado first formed approximately 2 miles north northeast of Liberty, Illinois and traveled northeast into northwest Brown County Illinois. A number of barns, machine sheds and large trees were damaged or destroyed in the path of the tornado over east central Adams county. The width of the damage area varied from 75 to as much as 150 yards and was rated F0 intensity during the early part of the path and F1 over the final 4 miles in far eastern Adams County.

Began near Liberty (39.9000, -91.0833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5358189. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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