Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2008

EF0 tornado, Scottsboro, Tennessee, February 6, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Davidson County on February 6, 2008, touching down at 12:44 AM CST and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
February 6, 2008
Touchdown
12:44 AM CST (06:44 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Davidson County
Touchdown point
36.208, -86.951
Lift-off point
36.208, -86.951
Record number
0802060044-01

What the Weather Service recorded

The Super Severe Weather Outbreak on Feb. 5, 2008 produced supercelluar thunderstorms, well in advance of a multicell line of thunderstorms. The whole episode lasted about 6 hours. This occurred ironically while many states, including Tennessee, were participating in the Super Tuesday Primary Election. Fortunately, polls had already closed in the mid state when these tornadoes struck.

Trees were blown down.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

25 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 06:19 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:20 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:20 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WatchOHX
02:57 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningOHX
03:17 UTC03:45 UTCTornado WarningOHX
03:40 UTC03:56 UTCTornado WarningOHX
06:19 UTC06:45 UTCTornado WarningOHX
06:47 UTC07:08 UTCTornado WarningOHX
07:53 UTC08:30 UTCTornado WarningOHX
18:00 UTC00:00 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryOHX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:58 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), 00:00Z

6.7 hours before the tornado, 33 km from the path. February 6, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2008-02-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 706 joules per kilogram, CIN -45, lifted condensation level 812 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2008-02-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 300 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 54 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
706 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Surface CAPE
750 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
812 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
300 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
362 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.6
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

5.3 hours after it, 33 km from the path. February 6, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2008-02-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -75186, lifted condensation level 675 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2008-02-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -77 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75186 J/kg
Surface CAPE
15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
675 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
221 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:42 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
03:45 UTCHAIL 0.88HendersonvilleSumner, TN
03:49 UTCHAIL 1GallatinSumner, TN
03:58 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 E GallatinSumner, TNCARS OVERTURNED AND NUMEROUS TREES DOWN
04:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 E GallatinSumner, TNTREES DOWN NEAR ZEIGLERS FORT AND CAIRO RD
04:04 UTCTORNADO7 E GallatinSumner, TNPOST OFFICE DESTROYED IN CASTILLIAN SPRINGS
06:11 UTCHAIL 1DicksonDickson, TNLARGE HAIL IN DOWNTOWN DICKSON

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of February 6, 2008

23 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 61:01 AM ESTEF1Washington, KY0.3150$60,000
February 61:06 AM ESTEF2Washington, KY1.0250$15,000
February 61:08 AM ESTEF1Franklin, KY2.4170$250,000
February 61:20 AM ESTEF1Mercer, KY0.9350$1.0 million
February 61:29 AM ESTEF2Harrison, KY3.54401$500,000
February 612:32 AM CSTEF0Dickson, TN0.120
February 612:46 AM CSTEF0Yazoo, MS4.875$180,000
February 61:51 AM ESTEF0Clark, KY0.9125$200,000
February 62:06 AM ESTEF1Bath, KY8.7250$250,000
February 61:12 AM CSTEF0Sumner, TN3.350
February 61:22 AM CSTEF1Sumner, TN11.8100
February 62:23 AM ESTEF0Menifee, KY4.0150$50,000
February 61:25 AM CSTEF1Leake, MS1.550
February 61:40 AM CSTEF3Allen, KY9.4440411$1.3 million
February 61:45 AM CSTEF0Williamson, TN1.6300
February 61:55 AM CSTEF0Noxubee, MS1.750
February 62:04 AM CSTEF1Lamar, AL7.3150$70,000
February 62:51 AM CSTEF2Fayette, AL26.22,0004$335,000
February 63:02 AM CSTEF4Moulton–Decatur tornado, AL16.7880423
February 64:00 AM CSTEF0Cullman, AL0.320
February 64:45 AM CSTEF1Marshall, AL0.235
February 65:17 AM CSTEF4Rosalie–Flat Rock tornado, AL10.9660112
February 66:25 AM CSTEF2Coosa, AL15.92,000$120,000

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.