Tornadoes · United States · Kentucky · 2003

F1 tornado, Graves County, Kentucky, May 6, 2003

This F1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Graves County on May 6, 2003, touching down at 11:22 PM CDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
May 6, 2003
Touchdown
11:22 PM CDT (04:22 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
125 yards (114 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Graves County
Touchdown point
36.930, -88.680
Lift-off point
36.930, -88.680
Record number
815

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS PAH issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:09 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
03:51 UTC04:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPAH
04:09 UTC04:45 UTCTornado WarningPAH

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:46 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 air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

4.4 hours before the tornado, 206 km from the path. May 7, 2003.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2003-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1519 joules per kilogram, CIN -20, lifted condensation level 720 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2003-05-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 92 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1519 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-20 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1397 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
720 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
3.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

7.6 hours after it, 206 km from the path. May 7, 2003.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2003-05-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -76151, lifted condensation level 865 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2003-05-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -232 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-76151 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
865 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-232 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Paducah radar (KPAH), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:22 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2003 tornado in KentuckyEvery tornado in Kentucky since 1950Warnings in force in Kentucky nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 6, 2003

73 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 62:30 AM EDTF1Aiken, SC2.0150$10,000
May 66:33 AM CDTF0Colbert, AL0.150$3,000
May 66:35 AM CDTF1Lauderdale, AL10.0600$200,000
May 67:20 AM CDTF1Limestone, AL15.0500$350,000
May 67:58 AM CDTF0Madison, AL0.120
May 68:16 AM CDTF1Madison, AL1.0200$100,000
May 69:20 AM CDTF0Vernon, MO0.220
May 69:45 AM CDTF0Jackson, AL3.020$10,000
May 69:58 AM CDTF0Jackson, AL1.020
May 610:10 AM CDTF0St. Clair, MO0.220
May 610:13 AM CDTF1DeKalb, AL2.750$10,000
May 611:16 AM CDTF0Cullman, AL0.120
May 612:56 PM EDTF1Cherokee, GA1.050$10,000
May 62:00 PM EDTF1Franklin, GA6.0200$100,000
May 62:12 PM EDTF2Madison, GA7.020012$700,000
May 62:21 PM EDTF1Hart, GA0.150$50,000
May 62:45 PM EDTF1Elbert, GA6.050$3,000
May 611:47 AM MSTF0Coconino, AZ0.15
May 63:10 PM EDTF0Abbeville, SC3.025$1,000
May 63:25 PM EDTF0McCormick, SC2.050
May 62:48 PM CDTF0Pettis, MO22.0502$120,000
May 63:57 PM EDTF0Lincoln, GA3.050
May 62:58 PM CDTF0Williams, ND0.030
May 64:13 PM CDTF0Allen, KS0.555
May 64:20 PM CDTF0Benton, MO0.225
May 64:25 PM CDTF0St. Clair, MO0.220
May 64:27 PM CDTF0Morgan, MO13.0100
May 64:28 PM CDTF0Morgan, MO15.0100
May 64:35 PM CDTF0Camden, MO0.220
May 64:35 PM CDTF0Hickory, MO0.220
May 64:40 PM CDTF0Bourbon, KS0.110
May 64:40 PM CDTF0Benton, MO0.225
May 64:50 PM CDTF0Miller, MO0.220
May 65:11 PM CDTF0Muskogee, OK0.250
May 66:20 PM EDTF1Williamsburg, SC3.8253$320,000
May 65:55 PM CDTF1Pulaski, MO1.0100$500,000
May 66:58 PM EDTF1Dorchester, SC3.075
May 66:13 PM CDTF0Phelps, MO0.220
May 66:32 PM CDTF1Franklin, MO1.080
May 66:40 PM CDTF0Dade, MO0.220
May 66:54 PM CDTF0Polk, MO0.220
May 66:55 PM CDTF1Camden, MO0.225$10,000
May 67:15 PM CDTF0Dallas, MO0.225
May 67:25 PM CDTF0Jefferson, MO0.150
May 67:30 PM CDTF0Jefferson, MO0.250
May 67:35 PM CDTF0Laclede, MO0.220
May 67:52 PM CDTF0Madison, MS1.030$30,000
May 68:04 PM CDTF2Bollinger, MO0.8100$40,000
May 68:10 PM CDTF1Monroe, IL4.060
May 68:18 PM CDTF0Bollinger, MO0.350
May 68:30 PM CDTF1Randolph, IL0.560
May 68:31 PM CDTF1Cape Girardeau, MO1.050
May 68:35 PM CDTF0Randolph, IL0.125
May 68:45 PM CDTF3Cape Girardeau, MO2.0502$12 million
May 68:57 PM CDTF0Alexander, IL0.330
May 69:11 PM CDTF1Cape Girardeau, MO3.050
May 69:32 PM CDTF4Pulaski, IL33.01,000233$16 million
May 610:22 PM CDTF1Scott, MO5.0200
May 610:27 PM CDTF2Alexander, IL to MO, KY25.04001$300,000
May 610:27 PM CDTF0Johnson, IL0.230

All 74 of them

What this means

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.

Sources

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