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F3 tornado in Dickson County, Tennessee

Tornado April 16, 1998 · Dickson County, Tennessee

Rating

2.0 mi

Path length

1,300 yd

Path width

Injuries

$500K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,300 yards (0.74 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado destroyed or damaged 35 homes, destroyed 7 mobile homes, uprooted trees and demolished cars along a 2 mile path on Nails Creek Road. The Dickson Convention Center/Flea Port USA, on TN Route 46 South, lost a wall and part of a roof.

Began near Tidwell (36.0000, -87.3300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F3 Robertson County F2 Montgomery County F2 Macon County F0 Humphreys County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5641015. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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