Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2006
F1 tornado, Mc Minnville, Tennessee, April 7, 2006
This F1 tornado ran 4.0 miles across Warren County on April 7, 2006, touching down at 6:28 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed 1 person, and did $100,000 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
- April 7, 2006
- Touchdown
- 6:28 PM CDT (23:28 UTC)
- Path length
- 4.0 miles (6.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- County
- Warren County
- Touchdown point
- 35.580, -85.920
- Lift-off point
- 35.580, -85.920
- Record number
- 316
What the Weather Service recorded
Warren County had 10 homes, farms or businesses with major damage. 19 homes, farms or businesses had moderate damage.
A second F1 tornado hit Warren County almost two hours later from the first tornado. The tornado touched down near Morrison, TN along Caney Branch Road. This storm complex came out of Coffee County. There was extensive damage to a barn. A cinder block building was badly damaged. Numerous trees were down. The third fatality in Warren County occuured in a trailer home on Bonner Road to a 48 year-old female nurse. The trailer was destroyed. The tornado continued slightly south of east in the Country Club Subdivision. Several houses had roof damage, outbuildings were destroyed and a wooden shed was on its side. Three Weather Channel reporters were arrested for trespassing for being on the property where this fatality occurred.
The deaths
1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.
| Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | F | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
6 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:22 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:24 UTC and running to 00:49 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15:24 UTC | 00:49 UTC | Tornado Watch | OHX |
| 21:35 UTC | 22:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | OHX |
| 23:09 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX |
| 23:22 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | OHX |
| 00:36 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OHX |
| 00:42 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | OHX |
| 00:49 UTC | 06:57 UTC | Tornado Watch | 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:32 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.
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z
11.5 hours before the tornado, 87 km from the path. April 7, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -263 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1050 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 54 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 174 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 241 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.3 K/km
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z
0.5 hours after it, 87 km from the path. April 8, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 310 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -177 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 440 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1354 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 272 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
The radar
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:27 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:00 UTC | HAIL 2 | 2 E Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | *** 1 INJ *** |
| 21:00 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Se Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | TORNADO REPORTED BY PUBLIC 3 SE MURFREESBORO |
| 21:00 UTC | TORNADO | Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | TORNADO TOUCH DOWN NEAR OLD SALEM HIGHWAY |
| 21:01 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | NICKEL SIZE HAIL IN MURFREESBORO ALONG I-24 |
| 21:06 UTC | HAIL 1 | 2 W Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | I-24 NEAR MURFREESBORO |
| 21:08 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 1 E Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | 1 - 1 3/4 INCH ON 70S |
| 21:10 UTC | HAIL 1 | Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | QUARTER SIZE HAIL AT MTSU |
| 21:32 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 5 N Woodbury | Cannon, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL NEAR RITAVILLE |
| 21:34 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | Woodbury | Cannon, TN | BASEBALL SIZE HAIL IN WOODBURY |
| 21:35 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | Woodbury | Cannon, TN | BASEBALL SIZE HAIL IN WOODBURY |
| 21:35 UTC | TORNADO | Woodbury | Cannon, TN | 2 TORNADO TOUCH DOWNS IN WOODBURY |
| 21:45 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 11 Nw Mcminnville | Warren, TN | *** 2 FATAL, 15 INJ *** F1 TORNADO KILLED 2 PEOPLE IN A MOBILE HOME ON FOSTER RD. SHINGLES WERE TORN OFF ROOFS. LARGE TREES WERE UPROOTED, SNAPPED AND BLOWN DOWN.THE TORNADO OCCURRED FROM 14.6 MILES NW OF MCMINNVILLE TO |
| 21:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 S Smithville | De Kalb, TN | TREES AND LARGE LIMBS DOWN ALONG HWY 56 |
| 21:55 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 5 S Smithville | De Kalb, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL ALONG HWY 56 |
| 21:56 UTC | TORNADO | 7 N Mcminnville | Warren, TN | TORNADO ALONG GREENHILL ROAD IN NORTHERN WARREN COUNTY |
| 22:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 Sse Smithville | De Kalb, TN | SHED BLOWN OVER AND PARTIAL ROOF BLOWN OFF HOUSE |
| 22:04 UTC | HAIL 1 | 7 Se Smithville | De Kalb, TN | HWY 288 SE OF SMITHVILLE |
| 22:05 UTC | TORNADO | 8 Ne Smithville | De Kalb, TN | LARGE TREES DOWN AND DEBRIS SCATTERED ALONG HWY 287, EAST OF HWY 56 |
| 22:54 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | Murfreesboro | Rutherford, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL AT VA HOSPITAL |
| 23:21 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 10 S Woodbury | Cannon, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL NEAR HOLLOW SPRINGS ALONG HWY 53 |
| 23:28 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 10 Sw Mcminnville | Warren, TN | *** 1 FATAL *** F1 TORNADO STRUCK FROM 10.3 MILES SW MCMINNVILLE TO 7.8 SW MCMINNVILLE WITH A PATH LENGTH OF 4 MILES AND PATH WIDTH OF 100 YDS. ONE FATALITY OCCURRED IN A TRAILER AT BONNER RD. THERE WAS ROOF DAMAGE TO HO |
| 23:30 UTC | HAIL 1 | 4 Sw Smithville | De Kalb, TN | QUARTER SIZE HAIL ON CECIL HILL ROAD IN SW DEKALB COUNTY ALONG HWY 146 |
| 23:34 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sw Mcminnville | Warren, TN | TORNADO IN SMART STATION, SW OF MCMINNVILLE |
| 23:37 UTC | TORNADO | 8 Sw Mcminnville | Warren, TN | TORNADO ALONG HWY 55 JUST WEST OF MORRISON |
| 00:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 9 Se Lynchburg | Franklin, TN | TREE REPORTED DOWN 8 TO 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LYNCHBURG. |
| 00:13 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 2 E Spencer | Van Buren, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL 2 MILES EAST OF SPENCER |
| 00:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Estill Springs | Franklin, TN | PUCLIC REPORTED A ESTIMATED 70 MPH WINDS IN THE ESTILL SPRINGS AREA. |
| 00:25 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 7 Wnw Pikeville | Bledsoe, TN | PENNY SIZED HAIL AT FALL CREEK FALLS STATE PARK. REPORTED BY PARK RANGER. |
| 00:26 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Manchester | Coffee, TN | IN MANCHESTER |
| 01:11 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 8 Nw Dunlap | Sequatchie, TN | DIME TO PENNY HAIL ON CAGLE MTN. REPORTED BY SHERIFFS OFFICE. |
| 01:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 7 Wnw Pikeville | Bledsoe, TN | SEVERAL TREES DOWN IN FALL CREEK FALLS STATE PARK. REPORTED BY STATE PARK OFFICIAL. |
| 01:35 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 8 Nw Pikeville | Bledsoe, TN | PENNY TO GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL ON AND ALONG HIGHWAY 30. REPORTED BY FALL CREEK FALLS STATE PARK OFFICIAL. |
| 02:00 UTC | HAIL 0.88 | 9 E Monteagle | Marion, TN | NICKEL SIZED HAIL ON HIGHWAY 41 NEAR OAK GROVE. REPORTED BY EMERGENCY MANAGER. |
| 02:16 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 6 Sw Dunlap | Sequatchie, TN | GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL ON DAUS MTN. REPORTED BY SHERIFFS OFFICE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 7, 2006
46 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 7 | 12:40 PM CDT | F0 | Benton, TN | 1.1 | 10 | $50,000 | ||
| April 7 | 1:05 PM CDT | F0 | Humphreys, TN | 0.2 | 20 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 1:10 PM CDT | F0 | Humphreys, TN | 0.2 | 20 | $1,000 | ||
| April 7 | 1:30 PM CDT | F3 | Dickson, TN | 18.8 | 880 | $6.0 million | ||
| April 7 | 1:34 PM CDT | F2 | Henderson, TN | 9.0 | 100 | 5 | $2.0 million | |
| April 7 | 1:40 PM CDT | F1 | Henderson, TN | 3.5 | 100 | $40,000 | ||
| April 7 | 1:53 PM CDT | F2 | Benton, TN | 6.0 | 50 | $250,000 | ||
| April 7 | 2:05 PM CDT | F1 | Humphreys, TN | 4.5 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 7 | 2:08 PM CDT | F3 | Davidson, TN | 22.7 | 880 | 7 | 128 | $79 million |
| April 7 | 2:43 PM CDT | F0 | Lewis, TN | 0.3 | 100 | |||
| April 7 | 3:04 PM CDT | F2 | Barren, KY | 8.1 | 250 | 4 | $1.6 million | |
| April 7 | 3:35 PM CDT | F0 | Union Parish, LA | 6.8 | 250 | $70,000 | ||
| April 7 | 5:14 PM EDT | F1 | Adams, IN | 0.8 | 100 | $40,000 | ||
| April 7 | 4:36 PM CDT | F0 | Leflore, MS | 3.0 | 50 | |||
| April 7 | 4:45 PM CDT | F1 | Pike, IN | 0.7 | 75 | $120,000 | ||
| April 7 | 4:45 PM CDT | F1 | Warren, TN | 11.0 | 150 | 2 | $500,000 | |
| April 7 | 4:53 PM CDT | F0 | Washington, MS | 1.0 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| April 7 | 4:56 PM CDT | F0 | Pontotoc, MS | 6.0 | 30 | $30,000 | ||
| April 7 | 5:43 PM CDT | F0 | Humphreys, MS | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| April 7 | 5:46 PM CDT | F1 | Cumberland, TN | 6.2 | 150 | 4 | $4.0 million | |
| April 7 | 5:50 PM CDT | F0 | Colbert, AL | 0.1 | 50 | $20,000 | ||
| April 7 | 5:52 PM CDT | F0 | Leflore, MS | 1.0 | 50 | |||
| April 7 | 6:14 PM CDT | F0 | Lauderdale, AL | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| April 7 | 6:17 PM CDT | F0 | Moore, TN | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| April 7 | 6:25 PM CDT | F1 | Colbert, AL | 8.0 | 100 | $120,000 | ||
| April 7 | 6:30 PM CDT | F0 | Lincoln, TN | 0.5 | 50 | $1,000 | ||
| April 7 | 6:55 PM CDT | F1 | Colbert, AL | 10.0 | 100 | $70,000 | ||
| April 7 | 7:02 PM CDT | F1 | Muhlenberg, KY | 1.7 | 150 | $40,000 | ||
| April 7 | 7:05 PM CDT | F1 | Limestone, AL | 0.7 | 200 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 7:35 PM CDT | F0 | Chickasaw, MS | 0.2 | 15 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 7:45 PM CDT | F0 | Madison, AL | 0.2 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 7:48 PM CDT | F0 | Lincoln, AL to TN | 2.1 | 30 | |||
| April 7 | 8:01 PM CDT | F0 | Lincoln, TN | 0.1 | 30 | $5,000 | ||
| April 7 | 8:45 PM CDT | F0 | Lawrence, AL | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| April 7 | 8:55 PM CDT | F1 | Marion, AL | 9.4 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| April 7 | 9:00 PM CDT | F0 | Franklin, AL | 3.0 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 9:30 PM CDT | F0 | Lawrence, AL | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| April 7 | 9:55 PM CDT | F0 | Sunflower, MS | 3.0 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| April 7 | 10:00 PM CDT | F0 | Lawrence, AL | 0.1 | 60 | $10,000 | ||
| April 7 | 10:00 PM CDT | F1 | Winston, AL | 4.7 | 150 | $80,000 | ||
| April 7 | 10:16 PM CDT | F0 | Morgan, AL | 1.0 | 50 | $1,000 | ||
| April 7 | 10:24 PM CDT | F0 | Limestone, AL | 0.1 | 40 | |||
| April 7 | 10:35 PM CDT | F1 | Morgan, AL | 9.0 | 150 | $110,000 | ||
| April 7 | 11:15 PM CDT | F0 | Marshall, AL | 0.1 | 150 | $20,000 | ||
| April 7 | 11:50 PM CDT | F1 | Cullman, AL | 0.2 | 30 | $120,000 | ||
| April 7 | 12:44 AM CDT | F0 | DeKalb, AL | 0.1 | 85 | $10,000 |
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.