F2 tornado, Huntland to Oak Grove, Tennessee, November 7, 1996

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 mph

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

3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

F2

Date

November 7, 1996

Touchdown

4:00 PM CST (22:00 UTC)

Path length

7.9 miles (12.7 km)

Path width

175 yards (160 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$500,000

County

Franklin County

Touchdown point

35.050, -86.300

Lift-off point

35.130, -86.200

Record number

967

The tornado destroyed one home and six mobile homes, damaged close to a dozen other homes and mobile homes, and heavily damaged numerous farm buildings and storage sheds during its trek through Franklin county. Storm damage was estimated to be about 1/2 million dollars. The tornado stayed generally south of U.S. Route 64. The tornado first touched down west of Huntland on McClure Cemetery Road where it destroyed a mobile home and damaged two other homes. The tornado continued east and destroyed 2 mobile homes and a storage building on Indian Creek Road. The tornado continued east and crossed Main Street in Huntland and destroyed a large hay barn. The tornado treked northeast to Old Salem and took the roof off the Old Salem Church of Christ on Bean Creek Rd. The most extensive damage was in Maxwell. 2 moble homes were destroyed. One of these mobile homes were lifted off its moorings and thrown 40 feet and then hit a tree. The occupant of the mobile home sustained a broken nose, multiple cuts and bruises. The tornado continued northeast to Belvidere where it destroyed some farm buildings. The tornado went up into the clouds, but reappeared in Decherd where it damaged a home. The tornado went back up into the clouds, but touched down briefly at Oak Grove, where it did some damage and again at Alto. The tornado destroyed a house at Alto on Rutledge Hill Rd. There were numerous trees and power lines down along the track of the tornado. Path length and width of the tornado are approximations.

This was part of the same tornado that originated near Huntland.Path length and width of the tornado are approximations.

This tornado was part of the Huntland tornado. Path length andwidth are approximations.

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.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:57 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 live radar over the trackEvery 1996 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.