Tornado, Rutherford
- When
- January 24, 4:37 PM CST to 4:48 PM CST
- Where
- Rutherford County, Smyrna
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 4.8 mi
- Path width
- 440 yd
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Coordinates
- 35.980, -86.530
Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
The tornado downed trees, ripped off roofs from homes located at Waller Estates and Young Subdivision. Smyrna Middle School sustained roof damage.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $500,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS OHX wrote it up.
The tornado downed trees, ripped off roofs from homes located at Waller Estates and Young Subdivision. Smyrna Middle School sustained roof damage. 4 apartments, 2 mobile homes and 3 homes were damaged in the Smyrna area. One person hid in a bathtub when the tornado struck. Another person left his mobile home and went into a ditch. The tornado width and length are approximations.
The radar
The Nashville radar (KOHX), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:37 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornado and Hail in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Alabama, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornadoes in Kentucky, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
- Flash Flood in California, January 24 to 25, 1997
- Tornado in Tennessee, January 24, 1997
More
Every storm in Tennessee in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Tennessee, 1997Warnings in Tennessee, January 1997
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: 5589734.