Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 1985

F1 tornado, Williamson County, Tennessee, August 16, 1985

This F1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Williamson County on August 16, 1985, touching down at 6:50 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500 to $5,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

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

  2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

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

  3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

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

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

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

  6. F5261 to 318 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
August 16, 1985
Touchdown
6:50 PM CDT (23:50 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500 to $5,000
County
Williamson County
Touchdown point
35.780, -86.750
Record number
567

The air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

11.8 hours before the tornado, 41 km from the path. August 16, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1985-08-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 245 joules per kilogram, CIN -21, lifted condensation level 663 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1985-08-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 33 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
245 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-21 J/kg
Surface CAPE
23 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
663 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

0.2 hours after it, 41 km from the path. August 17, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1985-08-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 83 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 550 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1985-08-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 125 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
83 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
396 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
550 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
125 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
283 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1985 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 16, 1985

29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 167:30 AM CDTF1Newton, MS4.5173$50,000 to $500,000
August 169:30 AM CDTF0Clarke, MS0.230$500 to $5,000
August 1611:00 AM CDTF2Walker, AL1.312011$500,000 to $5 million
August 1611:10 AM CDTF2Walker, AL1.51305$500,000 to $5 million
August 1612:20 PM CDTF1Lawrence, AL0.130$500 to $5,000
August 1612:35 PM CDTF2Colbert, AL8.01002$50,000 to $500,000
August 1612:40 PM CDTF3Morgan, AL45.01002$500,000 to $5 million
August 1612:55 PM CDTF2Jefferson, AL3.0600$50,000 to $500,000
August 161:18 PM CDTF1Jefferson, AL3.050$5,000 to $50,000
August 161:30 PM CDTF1Walker, AL0.130$5,000 to $50,000
August 161:33 PM CDTF1Cullman, AL0.630$5,000 to $50,000
August 161:45 PM CDTF1Jefferson, AL0.240$5,000 to $50,000
August 161:55 PM CDTF0Cullman, AL0.840$500 to $5,000
August 162:15 PM CDTF3Cullman, AL32.01006$500,000 to $5 million
August 162:16 PM CDTF1Lauderdale, AL0.240under $50
August 162:20 PM CDTF1Cullman, AL5.550$500 to $5,000
August 162:30 PM CDTF0Jackson, AL0.120$50 to $500
August 162:48 PM CDTF1Jefferson, AL0.130$5,000 to $50,000
August 163:00 PM CDTF3Giles, TN12.05001$50,000 to $500,000
August 163:00 PM CDTF0Clay, AL0.130$500 to $5,000
August 163:08 PM CDTF2Madison, AL13.0100$50,000 to $500,000
August 163:20 PM CDTF2Cullman, AL10.080$50,000 to $500,000
August 164:30 PM CDTF2Giles, TN5.060$500 to $5,000
August 164:30 PM CDTF1Madison, AL8.530$5,000 to $50,000
August 165:00 PM CDTF2Lincoln, TN7.070$500 to $5,000
August 165:09 PM CDTF0Etowah, AL0.520under $50
August 165:34 PM CDTF1Stutsman, ND0.213$5,000 to $50,000
August 164:45 PM MDTF1Cherry, NE0.230
August 168:55 PM CDTF1Faulk, SD0.210$500 to $5,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.