Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2025
Tornado Watch 271
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2025, 9:37 PM EDT for 74 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 16, 2025, 9:37 PM EDT (01:37 UTC)
- Expired
- May 17, 2025, 4:00 AM EDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 74 counties
Anderson County, TN, Bedford County, TN, Bledsoe County, TN, Blount County, TN, Bradley County, TN, Campbell County, TN, Cannon County, TN, Carter County, TN, Cheatham County, TN, Claiborne County, TN, Clay County, TN, Cocke County, TN, Coffee County, TN, Cumberland County, TN, Davidson County, TN, DeKalb County, TN, Dickson County, TN, Fentress County, TN, Franklin County, TN, Giles County, TN, Grainger County, TN, Greene County, TN, Grundy County, TN, Hamblen County, TN, Hamilton County, TN, Hancock County, TN, Hawkins County, TN, Hickman County, TN, Houston County, TN, Humphreys County, TN, Jackson County, TN, Jefferson County, TN, Johnson County, TN, Knox County, TN, Lawrence County, TN, Lewis County, TN, Lincoln County, TN, Loudon County, TN, Macon County, TN, Marion County, TN, Marshall County, TN, Maury County, TN, McMinn County, TN, Meigs County, TN, Monroe County, TN, Montgomery County, TN, Moore County, TN, Morgan County, TN, Overton County, TN, Perry County, TN, Pickett County, TN, Polk County, TN, Putnam County, TN, Rhea County, TN, Roane County, TN, Robertson County, TN, Rutherford County, TN, Scott County, TN, Sequatchie County, TN, Sevier County, TN, Smith County, TN, Stewart County, TN, Sullivan County, TN, Sumner County, TN, Trousdale County, TN, Unicoi County, TN, Union County, TN, Van Buren County, TN, Warren County, TN, Washington County, TN, Wayne County, TN, White County, TN, Williamson County, TN, Wilson County, TN
The radar
The Nashville radar (KOHX), 53 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:39 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 60%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 40%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 70%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 40%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 90%
Warnings issued inside it
18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 16, 10:04 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX | Montgomery, Stewart | 56 min |
| May 16, 10:55 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX | Cheatham, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys, Montgomery, Robertson and 1 more | 65 min |
| May 16, 11:40 PM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX | Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and 9 more | 65 min |
| May 17, 12:28 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX | Clay, Fentress, Jackson, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and 2 more | 62 min |
| May 17, 12:57 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Morgan, Scott | 33 min |
| May 17, 1:20 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Campbell, Claiborne, Morgan, Scott | 25 min |
| May 17, 1:39 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Anderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Grainger, Hancock, Knox and 3 more | 51 min |
| May 17, 1:41 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Claiborne, Hancock, Hawkins | 64 min |
| May 17, 2:08 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane | 52 min |
| May 17, 2:11 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Bradley, Hamilton, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea | 49 min |
| May 17, 2:15 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Anderson, Blount, Cocke, Grainger, Greene, Hamblen and 8 more | 60 min |
| May 17, 2:27 AM EDT | Tornado Warning | MRX | Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Polk | 48 min |
| May 17, 2:29 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Carter, Greene, Hawkins, Johnson, Sullivan, Washington | 61 min |
| May 17, 2:42 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, Knox, Loudon, Monroe, Roane, Sevier | 48 min |
| May 17, 3:04 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, McMinn, Monroe | 26 min |
| May 17, 3:09 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, Cocke, Greene, Jefferson, Sevier, Unicoi and 1 more | 36 min |
| May 17, 3:25 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, Monroe | 20 min |
| May 17, 3:38 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MRX | Blount, Monroe, Sevier | 52 min |
Discussions around it
SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.
The nearest sounding before it
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 49 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2481 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -13 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 952 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 236 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 327 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 4.8
- Supercell composite
- 17.5
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 3:18 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke and 18 more | 87 min |
| May 17, 4:35 AM EDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Anson, Burke, Cabarrus, Caldwell and 40 more | 4 hr |
| May 17, 6:51 AM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Alamance, Alexander, Burke, Cabarrus, Caswell, Catawba and 27 more | 84 min |
| May 16, 9:18 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell and 53 more | 57 min |
| May 16, 11:12 PM EDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Campbell, Cheatham, Claiborne, Clay, Davidson, Dickson and 19 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.