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F2 tornado in Johnson County, Missouri

Tornado May 4, 2003 · Johnson County, Missouri

F2
Rating
18.0 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$1K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

NOAA recorded where this tornado touched down but not where it lifted, so it appears as a point. 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This is the Cass county tornado which entered Johnson county in open country around Latour. Reported by a trained spotter. tornado intermittently touched down for the next 18 miles in mainly open country.

The wider storm

A dry line moved into eastern Kansas on the afternoon of May 4th. Severe thunderstorms quickly erupted in the mid afternoon hours and marched east northeast into Missouri. Several of the severe thunderstorms became tornadic. A supercell thunderstorm produced 4 seperate tornadoes over the northland of Kansas City. The strongest tornadoes reached F4 in intensity and moved over southern portions of Platte and Clay counties. In Platte county 14 buildings were destroyed, 43 suffered major damage and 149 had minor damage. There were no fatalities or injuries and total damage was estimated at $33.95 million dollars.In Clay county total damages were estimated at $91 million dollars. Several hundred homes were either destroyed or had major or minor damage. No fatalities were observed but there were 19 injuries. This was the most significant tornado outbeak in the Kansas City Metropolitan area, since the Pleasant Hill Missouri outbreak in 1977.

Began near Latour (38.4500, -94.6000).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5358770. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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