Tornado, McNairy
- When
- March 1, 5:45 AM CST to 6:00 AM CST
- Where
- McNairy County, Ramer to Selmer
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 5 mi
- Path width
- 200 yd
- Property damage
- $300,000
- Coordinates
- 35.070, -88.630
Tornado in Tennessee, March 1, 1997
A tornado touched down near the town of Ramer and moved northeast toward the town of Selmer. Forty-eight homes and two businesses were damaged or destroyed.
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
- $300,000
- 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 MEG wrote it up.
A tornado touched down near the town of Ramer and moved northeast toward the town of Selmer. Forty-eight homes and two businesses were damaged or destroyed. One farm which housed emus was damaged and nine emus were killed. Several trees were uprooted or shredded.
The radar
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:42 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 in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flood in Kentucky, March 1 to 6, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Tennessee, March 1, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flooding in Tennessee, March 1 to 11, 1997
- Tornado in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Tornadoes in Arkansas, March 1, 1997
- Flash Flood in Ohio, March 1 to 2, 1997
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, March 1, 1997
More
Every storm in Tennessee in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Tennessee, 1997Warnings in Tennessee, March 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: 5595090.