F3 tornado, Rome, Kentucky, January 3, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F3

Date

January 3, 2000

Touchdown

4:06 PM CST (22:06 UTC)

Path length

7.0 miles (11.3 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

18

Property damage

$64 million

County

Daviess County

Touchdown point

37.720, -87.180

Lift-off point

37.770, -87.120

Record number

19

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS PAH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 150 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The tornado first touched down near the community of Rome, just southwest of Owensboro, and entered the city near the southern boundary of Owensboro Airport. The tornado tracked northeast through the heart of Owensboro before dissipating on the east side of town. Peak winds were estimated at 180 MPH. Since the tornado path was mostly through densely populated residential and commercial areas, damage was in the tens of millions, but injuries were surprisingly few. Of the 18 injuries, one was critical, and the rest were relatively minor. The critically injured person was in a home near the beginning of the damage path. This person sustained broken vertebrae and numerous cuts and bruises. Owensboro landmarks heavily damaged by the tornado included Apollo High School, Kentucky Wesleyan College, and the Winn-Dixie Store. Damage to the 12 buildings at Kentucky Wesleyan College was estimated to be near 5 million dollars. Small to mid size automobiles were tossed about by the wind. Damage to utility lines was extensive, and repairs took about 10 days to complete. Final damage tallies showed about 1200 homes and businesses sustained damage. Of those 1200 structures, 101 were totally destroyed and 573 sustained major damage. Owensboro was declared a federal disaster area. An emergency shelter accomodated roughly 150 persons, including many from local nursing homes. Owensboro schools were closed for a week.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

23 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:43 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.