F4 tornado, Linden, Tennessee, May 5, 1999

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F4

Date

May 5, 1999

Touchdown

8:20 PM CDT (01:20 UTC)

Path length

6.0 miles (9.7 km)

Path width

580 yards (530 m)

Deaths

3

Injuries

0

Property damage

$290,000

County

Perry County

Touchdown point

35.570, -87.920

Lift-off point

35.630, -87.830

Record number

1031

An F4 tornado struck the town of Linden, located about 70 miles southwest of Nashville. The tornado damaged many homes, schools and businesses and churches. There were 3 fatalities. A 14 year old girl was sucked out of her home by the tornado as she, her father, and her mother were headed to the basement. Her dad was also sucked out of the home, but was found unharmed in the yard. The 14 year old girl was found 5 hours later in the rumble of their home. Hollis Hinson, 47 year old male and Perry County Trustee, was killed in his home. His girlfriend, 47 year old school teacher Patti Haston, was also killed in Mr. Hinson's house. The home was lifted off the foundation and flung into the woods and down a nearby hill. Both had gone to the bathroom to escape the tornado's fury. Ms. Hinson was found dead in a bathtub.

The deaths

3 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:52 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:55 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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:26 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 Ft Campbell radar (KHPX), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:22 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.