Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 1994

F0 tornado, Lauderdale County, Tennessee, June 26, 1994

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Lauderdale County on June 26, 1994, touching down at 6:00 PM CDT and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50 to $500 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 mphthis tornado

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

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    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
F0
Date
June 26, 1994
Touchdown
6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50 to $500
County
Lauderdale County
Touchdown point
35.770, -89.800
Record number
607

The warnings

23 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:37 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:37 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningMEG

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:23 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 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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

11.0 hours before the tornado, 105 km from the path. June 26, 1994.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1994-06-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1525 joules per kilogram, CIN -276, lifted condensation level 1275 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 1994-06-26The 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 338 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 59 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1525 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-276 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2231 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1275 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
338 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
492 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

1.0 hours after it, 105 km from the path. June 27, 1994.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1994-06-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3309 joules per kilogram, CIN -31, lifted condensation level 1426 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 1994-06-27The 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 28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3309 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-31 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4002 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1426 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1994 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 26, 1994

39 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 261:15 AM CDTF1Dent, MO3.0502$5,000 to $50,000
June 262:45 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.123$50 to $500
June 262:30 PM MDTF0Chouteau, MT0.110$500 to $5,000
June 262:30 PM MDTF0Chouteau, MT0.110
June 264:30 PM EDTF0Stephens, GA0.320$500 to $5,000
June 264:15 PM CDTF0Obion, TN0.523$500 to $5,000
June 264:27 PM CDTF1Calloway, KY1.020$5,000 to $50,000
June 265:45 PM EDTF0Taylor, GA0.2201$5,000 to $50,000
June 266:15 PM EDTF1Pulaski, KY1.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 265:17 PM CDTF1Gibson, TN4.050$50,000 to $500,000
June 265:33 PM CDTF0Tazewell, IL0.220
June 267:00 PM CDTF0Coffee, TN3.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 267:05 PM CDTF0Fayette, TN2.010$500 to $5,000
June 267:10 PM CDTF0Haywood, TN1.010$500 to $5,000
June 267:30 PM CDTF0Hardeman, TN2.023$50 to $500
June 267:30 PM CDTF2Grundy, TN4.0506$50,000 to $500,000
June 267:32 PM CDTF0Fayette, TN0.510$50 to $500
June 268:15 PM CDTF2Sequatchie, TN2.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 268:30 PM CDTF1Franklin, TN8.0200$5,000 to $50,000
June 268:30 PM CDTF0Tippah, MS2.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 269:00 PM CDTF3Wayne, TN to AL38.088022$50,000 to $500,000
June 269:05 PM CDTF0Tippah, MS2.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 269:30 PM CDTF0Tippah, MS1.540$500 to $5,000
June 269:35 PM CDTF0Fayette, TN2.020$50 to $500
June 269:50 PM CDTF3Limestone, AL3.0300$50,000 to $500,000
June 2610:12 PM CDTF1Limestone, AL5.0100$50,000 to $500,000
June 2611:20 PM EDTF0Hall, GA0.530$500 to $5,000
June 2611:26 PM EDTF1Habersham, GA18.02202$50,000 to $500,000
June 2611:30 PM EDTF2Cobb, GA2.04401$500,000 to $5 million
June 2611:30 PM EDTF2Oconee, SC12.09001$50,000 to $500,000
June 2610:50 PM CDTF2Limestone, AL7.02002$500,000 to $5 million
June 2611:00 PM CDTF1Wayne, TN5.050$5,000 to $50,000
June 2612:02 AM EDTF1Hall, GA8.01007$500,000 to $5 million
June 2612:05 AM EDTF1Pickens, SC8.0200$50,000 to $500,000
June 2612:45 AM EDTF1Hall, GA4.0200$500,000 to $5 million
June 2612:05 AM CDTF1Chickasaw, MS2.01001$50,000 to $500,000
June 2612:20 AM CDTF0Cherokee, AL4.0200$50,000 to $500,000
June 261:50 AM EDTF0Hall, GA0.550$500 to $5,000
June 261:55 AM EDTF0Polk, GA0.3201$50 to $500

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.