EF4 Jackson tornado, Tennessee, February 5, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mphthis tornado

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF4

Date

February 5, 2008

Touchdown

6:59 PM CST (00:59 UTC)

Lifted

7:07 PM CST (01:07 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

7.6 miles (12.2 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

51

Property damage

$100 million

County

Madison County

Touchdown point

35.677, -88.865

Lift-off point

35.733, -88.747

Record number

0802051859-01

A strong low pressure system tracked from Northern Arkansas into Southern Missouri during the evening hours of February 5th, 2008. Supercells developed out ahead of the system during the late afternoon into the early evening. The storms produced tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. As the supercells moved east during the evening, a cold front moved into West Tennessee. A squall line developed along the front and produced another round of large hail and damaging winds. The front continued to push east into the overnight hours.

A tornado crossed into Madison County from Haywood County, Tennessee. The tornado struck the town of Huntersville and produced EF-3 damage. One home was totally destroyed on Huntersville-Denmark Road. One person was killed inside the home. Another home was destroyed in Huntersville. One person was killed in this home as well. Numerous homes were destroyed or damaged along the path in Huntersville area. The St. John No. 2 Baptist Church was severely damaged and the church bus was flipped upside down and tossed several hundred feet. The tornado lifted northeast of Huntersville near Interstate 40. A rest area along Interstate 40 was severely damaged. Thirteen tractor-trailers and several cars were also blown off of the Interstate due to the tornado. One car was tossed 75 yards from Interstate 40 into a farm field. Along the track of this tornado over 50 structures were destroyed and over 80 more were damaged.

The tornado touched down at the Union University Campus near the U.S. Highway 45 Bypass in Jackson producing tremendous damage. Fifty one people were injured at Union University as two dormitories collapsed during the passage of the violent tornado. Eighty percent of the dorms were severely damaged or destroyed. Three academic buildings received major damage and 14 other campus buildings were damaged. Several hundred vehicles in the campus parking lots were also damaged or destroyed. The damage in the University area was rated EF-4 with maximum winds of 170 mph. The track was 125 yards wide. The damage at the university alone was estimated at $40,000,000. The tornado then tracked across the U.S. Highway 45 Bypass damaging several banks and businesses before hitting the Regional Hospital and adjacent doctors' offices. The tornado then moved across North Jackson inflicting significant damage to many subdivisions and businesses. The Chapel Creek, Indian Hills and Wyndhurst subdivisions were all struck by the tornado. The tornado also damaged the Jackson Oaks Senior Living Complex. The tornado continued to track northeast striking the Northside High School in the Oak Hill area. The tornado then moved through the Walnut Trace subdivision before crossing Old Medina Road and damaging more houses. The tornado then continued northeast causing EF-3 damage near the intersection of Christmasville Road and Ashport Road in Northeast Madison County before lifting. The Madison County Fire Station No. 11 was destroyed. The station's fire engine and pumper, water and brush trucks were all damaged. Several homes in the area were also damaged. The maximum winds were 145 mph in this area and the track was 100 yards wide. Along the track of this tornado over 70 structures were destroyed with over 500 more damaged.

The deaths

2 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.

24 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:35 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:14 UTC and running to 06:00 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 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 19:40 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 Memphis radar (KNQA), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:59 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

61 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 62 of them

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.