Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2003

F1 tornado, Davidson County, Tennessee, May 5, 2003

Name: F1 tornado, Davidson County, Tennessee, May 5, 2003
Start: 2003-05-05T06:45:00.000Z
Location: Davidson County, Tennessee

This F1 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Davidson County on May 5, 2003, touching down at 1:45 AM CDT and reaching 70 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $250,000 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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: May 5, 2003
Touchdown: 1:45 AM CDT (06:45 UTC)
Path length: 0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width: 70 yards (64 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $250,000
County: Davidson County
Touchdown point: 36.220, -86.780
Lift-off point: 36.220, -86.780
Record number: 920

The warnings

3 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:42 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:10 UTC.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
06:11 UTC	06:45 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX
06:42 UTC	07:10 UTC	Tornado Warning	OHX
08:03 UTC	11:00 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	OHX
08:28 UTC	09:00 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX
10:43 UTC	14:00 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	OHX
10:55 UTC	11:45 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX
17:24 UTC	18:15 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX
19:29 UTC	20:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	OHX
00:15 UTC	01:00 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OHX
00:25 UTC	03:30 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	OHX

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:55 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Nashville, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 4, 9:15 PM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 9:15 PM CDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
915 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK EXPECTED IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE
OVERNIGHT AND INTO MONDAY MORNING, AS ATMOSPHERE DESTABILIZES AND
0-3 KM STORM RELATIVE HELICITIES APPROACH OBSCENE VALUES OF 600 M2/S2
TO 700 M2/S2. SPC HAS ALREADY EXTENDED THE MODERATE RISK AREA FOR
TONIGHT INTO WESTERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE, REACHING RIGHT UP TO THE
DAVIDSON OCUNTY LINE. A SLIGHT RISK COVERS THE REMAINDER OF OUR
FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT.

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 239, FOR NORTHWESTERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE,
IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 100 AM.

A NUMBER OF THUNDERSTORMS TO OUR WEST HAVE SHOWN SIGNIFICANT SIGNS
OF ROTATION, AND FORECASTERS AT MEMPHIS WFO HAVE BEEN SLINGING
TORNADO WARNINGS FOR THE LAST SEVERAL HOURS.

NIGHTTIME TORNADOES ARE A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN TENNESSEE, PARTLY DUE
TO THE DARKNESS AND PARTLY DUE TO THE LIMITED VIEWING DISTANCE
ALONG THE HORIZON. YOU ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN TUNED TO A RELIABLE
SOURCE OF WEATHER INFORMATION THROUGH THE NIGHT AND INTO MONDAY
MORNING, AS THE SEVERE WEATHER DEVELOPS IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. IF
POSSIBLE, LEAVE A NOAA WEATHER RADIO IN ALERT MODE ON THE BEDSTAND
WHILE YOU SLEEP SO YOU WILL HEAR ANY WARNINGS AS SOON AS THEY ARE
ISSUED.

.BNA...NONE.
19

Hazardous weather outlook, May 4, 7:25 PM CDT, 6 hours 20 minutes before

TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075>080-093>097-051030-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
725 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT
A WARM FRONT WILL PUSH NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE THIS
EVENING, ALLOWING MORE HUMID AIR TO SEEP INTO THE MID STATE. THIS
WILL FURTHER DESTABILIZE THE ENVIRONMENT, PROVIDING RIPE CONDITIONS
FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. AMPLE LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR SHIFTS THE
PRIMARY DANGER TOWARD DAMAGING WINDS AND EVEN ISOLATED TORNADOES. IN
ADDITION, THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS PLACED ALL OF MIDDLE
TENNESSEE UNDER A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER TONIGHT, WITH A
MODERATE RISK COVERING THE WEST TENNESSEE UP TO THE TENNESSEE RIVER.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
A SERIES OF DISTURBANCE MOVING OUT OF THE PLAINS WILL BRING SCATTERED
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. THERE
IS A SMALL CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER EACH OF THESE DAYS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
ACTIVATION OF SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BECOME
NECESSARY DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS.

ROSE

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 4, 11:19 PM CDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE,TN
1119 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1110 PM    10W DOVER                 TN   TORNADO
05/04/03   STEWART                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TORNADO REPORTED ON THE
                                          GROUND NEAR PARIS LANDING
                                          10 W DOVER

JLM

Local storm report, May 4, 11:46 PM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE,TN
1146 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1135 PM    8E DOVER                  TN   TORNADO
05/04/03   STEWART                        LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED
                                          TORNADO REPORTED ON THE
                                          GROUND 8 MILES EAST OF
                                          DOVER NEAR INDIAN MOUND.

JLM

Local storm report, May 5, 12:14 AM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
1214 AM CDT MON MAY 05 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1155 AM    6 N CLARKSVILLE           TN   1.00 IN HAIL
05/04/03   MONTGOMERY                     SPOTTER REPORTED QUARTER
                                          SIZE HAIL NEAR THE KENTUCKY
                                          BORDER.

JAO

Local storm report, May 5, 12:48 AM CDT, 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE,TN
1248 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1244 AM    CLARKSVILLE               TN   80 MPH TSTM WIND GUST
05/05/03   MONTGOMERY                     TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          70-80 MPH WIND IN DOWNTOWN
                                          CLARKSVILLE WITH DEBRIS

1245 AM    CLARKSVILLE               TN   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/05/03   MONTGOMERY                     TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          IN DOWNTOWN CLARKSVILLE

1253 AM    5S CLARKSVILLE            TN   WIND DAMAGE
05/05/03   MONTGOMERY                     TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN JUST
                                          S OF CLARKSVILLE

1249 AM    5W CENTERVILLE            TN   WIND DAMAGE
05/05/03   HICKMAN                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TREES BLOWN DOWN ON HWY 100
                                          JUST WEST OF CENTERVILLE

1252 AM    3E CENTERVILLE            TN   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/05/03   HICKMAN                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          QUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED
                                          JUST EAST OF CENTERVILLE

JLM

Local storm report, May 5, 1:24 AM CDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE,TN
124 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0115 AM    3N CENTERVILLE            TN   WIND DAMAGE
05/05/03   HICKMAN                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TREES DOWN JUST N OF
                                          CENTERVILLE IN HICKMAN
                                          COUNTY

0115 AM    10S CLARKSVILLE           TN   WIND DAMAGE
05/05/03   MONTGOMERY                     TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          POWER LINES DOWN ON HOUSE
                                          SOUTH OF CLARKSVILLE

0118 AM    10SE CENTERVILLE          TN   60 mph MPH TSTM WIND GUST
05/05/03   HICKMAN                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          50-60 MPH WIND GUSTS IN
                                          SHADY GROVE

0120 AM    2SE CROSS PLAINS          TN   TORNADO
05/05/03   ROBERTSON                      TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TORNADO OBSERVED ON GROUND
                                          BETWEEN CROSS PLAINS AND
                                          WHITEHOUSE

0122 AM    FAIRVIEW                  TN   70 MPH TSTM WIND GUST
05/05/03   WILLIAMSON                     TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          70 MPH WINDS IN FAIRVIEW

0130 AM    15NE CENTERVILLE          TN   TORNADO
05/05/03   HICKMAN                        TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TORNADO ON GROUND NEAR
                                          LYLES-BON AQUA

JLM

Local storm report, May 5, 1:41 AM CDT, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE,TN
141 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0140 AM    15NW COLUMBIA             TN   WIND DAMAGE
05/05/03   MAURY                          TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED
                                          TREES BLOWN DOWN ON HIGHWAY
                                          50 ON THE HICKMAN-MAURY
                                          COUNTY LINE

JLM

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), 00:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 19 km from the path. May 5, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 117 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -162 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 261 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1192 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 293 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 530 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

5.2 hours after it, 19 km from the path. May 5, 2003.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 616 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -70 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 155 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 622 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 575 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 604 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.0
Supercell composite: 12.6
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Nashville Metro (BNA), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
04:53 UTC	73	67	180° 12 kt	24	1006.8	-TSRA
05:53 UTC	72	67	110° 16 kt	22	1004.1	-TSRA
06:10 UTC	73.4	68	160° 15 kt	18	1005.8	TS
06:53 UTC	68	66	280° 16 kt	21	1007.1	+TSRA BR
06:56 UTC	66.2	64.4	300° 15 kt	21	1006.1	+TSRA BR
07:00 UTC	64.4	62.6	210° 7 kt	21	1006.4	+TSRA BR
07:18 UTC	64.4	62.6	70° 7 kt		1003.7	+TSRA BR
07:22 UTC	64.4	62.6	300° 9 kt		1004.4	TSRA BR
07:31 UTC	64.4	62.6	310° 5 kt		1006.1	TSRA BR
07:43 UTC	64.4	62.6	230° 8 kt		1006.4	+TSRA BR
07:53 UTC	64	63	260° 5 kt		1006.8	+TSRA BR
08:00 UTC	64.4	62.6	170° 5 kt		1006.1	+TSRA BR
08:23 UTC	64.4	64.4	200° 11 kt		1006.4	+TSRA BR
08:29 UTC	62.6	62.6	200° 8 kt	21	1006.8	+TSRA BR

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

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 20 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:43 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2003 tornado in Tennessee Every tornado in Tennessee since 1950 Warnings in force in Tennessee now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 5, 2003

24 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
May 5	1:30 AM CDT	F0	Hickman, TN	0.1	10
May 5	1:38 AM CDT	F1	Williamson, TN	4.0	100		$3.0 million
May 5	2:30 AM CDT	F0	Rutherford, TN	0.1	20
May 5	2:45 AM CDT	F1	Cannon, TN	3.0	100		$500,000
May 5	4:45 AM CDT	F0	Marshall, MS	1.0	100		$30,000
May 5	7:55 AM CDT	F0	Benton, MS	0.5	50		$1,000
May 5	8:15 AM CDT	F0	Tippah, MS	0.5	50		$1,000
May 5	8:55 AM CDT	F0	Alcorn, MS	0.5	50		$1,000
May 5	9:05 AM CDT	F0	McNairy, TN	0.5	25		$1,000
May 5	9:50 AM CDT	F0	Hardin, TN	0.8	50		$1,000
May 5	10:48 AM CDT	F0	Lawrence, TN	0.1	30		$1,000
May 5	11:45 AM CDT	F3	Lincoln, TN	1.6	700	2	$50,000
May 5	1:26 PM CDT	F0	Gibson, TN	0.5	25		$1,000
May 5	1:45 PM CDT	F0	Madison, TN	4.0	200		$10,000
May 5	2:55 PM CDT	F0	Cheatham, TN	0.1	10
May 5	5:00 PM EDT	F1	Pulaski, KY	6.0	300		$500,000
May 5	4:45 PM CDT	F1	Cannon, TN	3.3	150
May 5	5:40 PM CDT	F0	Mississippi, AR	0.5	50		$1,000
May 5	8:00 PM EDT	F1	Oakland, MI	1.0	100		$90,000
May 5	7:15 PM CDT	F0	Gibson, TN	0.5	50		$1,000
May 5	8:50 PM CDT	F0	Sunflower, MS	0.3	30		$10,000
May 5	10:50 PM CDT	F0	Ozark, MO	0.2	20
May 5	1:34 AM EDT	F1	Edgefield, SC	3.0	150
May 5	1:45 AM EDT	F0	Saluda, SC	0.1	30

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.