Tornadoes in Tennessee, March 21, 1952

Name: Tornadoes in Tennessee, March 21, 1952
Start: 1952-03-21T18:00
End: 1952-03-21T23:55
Location: Tennessee

March 21, 1952 · 10 events in 6 counties and zones

10 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 30
Injuries: 141
Property damage: $4.3 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 10

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

10 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Dyer

When: March 21, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Dyer County
Rating: F4
Path length: 4.7 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 10 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 36.020, -89.200

Tornado, Dyer

When: March 21, 8:30 PM CST
Where: Dyer County
Rating: F3
Path length: 18.1 mi
Path width: 1,000 yd
Deaths: 10 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 30 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 35.950, -89.430

Tornado, Dyer

When: March 21, 8:30 PM CST
Where: Dyer County
Rating: F4
Path length: 2 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Deaths: 4 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 36.100, -89.270

Tornado, Fayette

When: March 21, 10:00 PM CST
Where: Fayette County
Rating: F4
Path length: 18.7 mi
Path width: 427 yd
Deaths: 7 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 50 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 35.000, -89.580

Tornado, Gibson

When: March 21, 10:45 PM CST
Where: Gibson County
Rating: F2
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 2 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 35.800, -88.780

Tornado, Carroll

When: March 21, 10:50 PM CST
Where: Carroll County
Rating: F3
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 35.850, -88.670

Tornado, Carroll

When: March 21, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Carroll County
Rating: F2
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 150 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 8 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 35.930, -88.500

Tornado, Carroll

When: March 21, 11:17 PM CST
Where: Carroll County
Rating: F3
Path length: 5.1 mi
Path width: 177 yd
Injuries: 19 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 36.020, -88.270

Tornado, Hardeman

When: March 21, 11:30 PM CST
Where: Hardeman County
Rating: F4
Path length: 11.1 mi
Path width: 177 yd
Deaths: 4 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 14 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $2.5 million
Coordinates: 35.270, -88.980

Tornado, Humphreys

When: March 21, 11:55 PM CST
Where: Humphreys County
Rating: F2
Path length: 0.3 mi
Path width: 500 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 35.850, -87.680

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Carroll	1952-03-21				Direct

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Tennessee in 1952 Every state in 1952 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Tennessee, 1952

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10126041, 10126042, 10126043, 10126257, 10126258, 10126259, 10126260, 10126261, 10126262, 10126263.