EF3 Chattanooga tornado, Georgia and Tennessee, April 12, 2020

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF3

Date

April 12, 2020

Touchdown

10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)

Lifted

10:33 PM CDT (03:33 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

19.3 miles (31.1 km)

Path width

1,500 yards (1372 m)

Deaths

2

Injuries

18

Property damage

$250,000

Counties

Catoosa, Hamilton and Bradley counties

Touchdown point

34.941, -85.258

Lift-off point

35.104, -84.982

Record number

2004122115-01

211 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FFC and NWS MRX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 145 mph.

• numerous structure and tree damage
• multiple houses with major roof damage
• in the distance numerous roof damage
• across the street from previous damage

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A prolonged convective event with deep moist southerly flow in an unstable environment with strong wind shear generated supercell thunderstorms across Southeast Tennessee and Southwest North Carolina. The lengthy period of heavy rain resulted in widespread three to four inch rainfall totals across East Tennessee, Southwest North Carolina, and Southwest Virginia.

Ground surveys and radar data suggest the tornado touched down on the south side of Fort Oglethorpe, near the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center in Catoosa County. The tornado crossed I-75 along Scruggs Road, then crossed the Tennessee/Georgia state-line somewhere between Scruggs Road and GA-Hwy 41 (Ringgold Rd in Tennessee). It quickly moved across the Harris Hills area where some trees were uprooted and then continued towards East Brainerd Road and Stratman Circle where an auto parts store was completely leveled and nearby structures had significant roof damage done. The tornado then struck the end of a large shopping building where a restaurant was located. The restaurant facade was destroyed and the roof was peeled back. This is where the tornado picked up strength and was near its peak intensity. It continued northeast into the Drake Forest neighborhood where extensive structure, roof, and tree damage was noted. There were likely pockets of EF-3 damage here, as well. The tornado damage path really widened as it moved northeast into the Holly Hills neighborhood. This was likely the widest part of the tornado. Nearly as far as you could see to the southeast, tree trunks were snapped and significant home damage was noted. Some areas were blocked by tree debris and fallen power poles as well as large debris removal machinery which limited easy access to some areas. Additional damage was found in Ooltewah near the Summit Softball Complex and particularly significant roof damage to several units/buildings of the Integra Hills Preserve Apartments. The tornado weakened as it crossed South Lee Highway and eventually dissipated in southwestern Bradley County.

The storm from Hamilton County moved into Bradley County with a mesocyclone moving directly over downtown Cleveland. A tornado then formed quickly in Cleveland, less than a mile east northeast of downtown. A residential section was hit, comprising single family homes as well as mobile homes, with 26 destroyed, 23 receiving major damage, and 62 other dwellings affected. A church in this area was heavily damaged and hundreds of trees were either uprooted, or had large limbs snapped. The tornado then moved out of the city before occluding and dissipating in rural areas near Benton Pike east of downtown.

The deaths

2 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.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:22 UTC and running to 03:45 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:12 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

72 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 73 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.