F3 tornado, Nashville, Tennessee, April 16, 1998

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 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 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. 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

F3

Date

April 16, 1998

Touchdown

3:30 PM CDT (20:30 UTC)

Path length

42.1 miles (67.7 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

60

Property damage

$101 million

Counties

Davidson, Wilson and Trousdale counties

Touchdown point

36.070, -86.920

Lift-off point

36.370, -86.120

Record number

930

This Nashville tornado on April 16, 1998 took a very similar path to another F3 tornado that occurred on March 14, 1933, which killed 11 people in Nashville. The tornado touched down at 330 PM one mile west of Charlotte Pike and I-440. A tree fell on an ROTC student at Centennial Park. He was attending an ROTC picnic. He died later on May 4 from his injuries. The tornado went through downtown Nashville at 340 PM and on toward East Nashville, Donelson and Hermitage. The tornado blew out many windows on office buildings. The Nations Bank Office Towers were one of the hardest hit buildings in Nashville. Tennessee Performance Arts Center (TPAC) and the Tennessee Towers sustained damage. TPAC had over 100 windows blown out. NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts from the Tennessee Towers and was off the air for about 24 hours. 30 private airplanes were damaged at Cornelia Fort Airport. Estimated damage to the airplanes was 3 million dollars. 35 buildings in downtown Nashville were "red tagged", meaning these buildings were structurally unsound. Many signs in Davidson county were blown down or severely damaged. The tornado blew down 3 out of 10 construction cranes on the construction site of the Tennessee Oiler's Football Stadium near the Cumberland River. The tornado continued east and hit the residential section of East Nashville. At least 300 homes were damaged in East Nashville. Many homes lost a good part of their roofs, trees were uprooted, telephone poles were knocked down. St. Ann's Episcopal Church, which is well over 100 years old, received major damage. Uprooted trees, damaged roofs to many homes was the story across Donelson and Hermitage. Numerous windows were blown out from the Gaylord Building in Donelson. About half the trees, that is over a thousand trees, were blown down at Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage. The Hermitage is a 600 acre estate of the former President. Some of those trees were well over 200 years old, and a few of those trees that were destroyed were planted by Andrew Jackson himself. Mayor Phil Bredesen closed downtown Nashville of Friday, April 17. Many workers had an unscheduled holiday. The downtown area was reopened Monday, April 20. This gave time for cleanup crews to remove broken glass and repair downed power lines. Nashville Electric Service said 75,000 customers were without power.

This tornado was the same one that struck downtown Nashville. The tornado was seen moving from west to east about a mile south of the NWS office. The tornado caused many trees to be uprooted, power lines were knocked down, signs damaged or blown down, and there was roof damage to homes. The Mt. Juliet Little League field was littered with aluminum and lumber blown from Marvin's Lumber Yard. Part of a roof was taken off First Bank in Mt. Juliet. The tornado continued into southern Trousdale county.

Trees were blown down. There was some damage to homes from fallen trees. This tornado was not as strong as the first. It started between downtown and Nashville International Airport and continued into Wilson county.

Downed trees in rural areas.

This tornado travelled just south of Lebanon Pike and did damage to homes and businesses in West Lebanon. The TRW plant received some damage on HWY 70 Bypass. Trees were uprooted and homes sustained roof damage. There was extensive agricultural losses. Approximately $60,000 worth of fencing was destroyed or damaged. 20 hogs were killed. Farmers lost 26 outbuildings, and 21 vehicles were damaged.

EMA official reported a tornado touchdowns at 12th and Charlotte and 6th and Union. Damage was mainly blown out windows and downed trees and power lines.

The deaths

1 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.

21 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:09 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:10 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 11:06 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.

Nashville Metro (BNA), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 5 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:29 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1998 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

41 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.