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F4 tornado in Madison County, Tennessee

Tornado January 17, 1999 · Madison County, Tennessee

F4
Rating
16.0 mi
Path length
500 yd
Path width
6
Deaths
106
Injuries
$10.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

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 F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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 developed just east of Bemis and tracked northeast across the southern part of the city of Jackson. A shopping center suffered severe damage while a nearby funeral home was demolished except for the interior rooms. More than 200 homes were obliterated or heavily damaged while 300 other homes sustained lesser damage. The building housing the school buses for the county was destroyed and 55 school buses were damaged. A high-school baseball stadium was destroyed and the football stadium was damaged.

Began near Bemis (35.5800, -88.8800).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

F3 Crockett CountyF3 Haywood CountyF2 Lauderdale CountyF1 Hardeman County 1 deadF1 Carroll County 1 dead

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5685378. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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