F4 Jackson tornado, Tennessee, May 4, 2003

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 4, 2003

Touchdown

11:35 PM CDT (04:35 UTC)

Path length

39.0 miles (62.8 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

11

Injuries

86

Property damage

$40 million

Counties

Madison and Henderson counties

Touchdown point

35.520, -89.030

Lift-off point

35.650, -88.350

Record number

945

The tornado touched down in the southwest part of Madison county near Denmark and tracked east through the downtown section of Jackson. The tornado continued to move east and eventually crossed into Henderson county. Nine people were killed in mobile homes between Denmark and Jackson and two other persons were killed in an apartment complex in Jackson. Numerous buildings were destroyed, particularly in downtown Jackson. St. Luke Episcopal Church, one of the oldest churches in Tennessee built in 1844, was destroyed. The Carl Perkins Civic Center, Tennessee Supreme Court Building, the downtown Jackson Post Office and National Guard Armory were damaged. Also damaged was the Proctor and Gamble factory where Pringles Potato Chips are made and a Coca-Cola bottling plant was also damaged. Denmark Elementary School and Jackson Middle School were destroyed and 24 other schools in the county were damaged. The tornado caused severe damage to the local power and water utilities across the county. One of eight stone balls that were set up to commemorate the eight fatalities from the Jackson tornado of January 17, 1999 was blown across a street.

The tornado touched down south of where the tornado which struck the city of Jackson started. This tornado also moved east and eventually moved into Henderson county. Numerous homes were damaged or destroyed.

The same tornado that produced substantial damage to the city of Jackson continued into Henderson county and moved through the city of Lexington. Thirty-six homes were destroyed and nearly 1,000 homes were damaged. Seven commercial buildings were destroyed and another 73 were damaged including the Everett Horn Library.

This tornado moved east from Madison County into Henderson county. Some homes were damaged.

The deaths

11 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.

22 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:13 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:00 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 High Risk, with a 0.25 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:48 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.

Jackson/Mckellar (MKL), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

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

80 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 81 of them

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.