EF2 tornado, Humboldt to Humboldt Arpt, Tennessee, May 2, 2010

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

May 2, 2010

Touchdown

2:20 AM CDT (07:20 UTC)

Lifted

2:25 AM CDT (07:25 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Gibson County

Touchdown point

35.809, -88.907

Lift-off point

35.831, -88.860

Record number

1005020120-01

An upper level disturbance slowly approached the Mid-South during the evening of April 30th, 2010 as a cold front became stationary to the west. This pattern remained in place through the evening hours of May 2nd, 2010. South to southwest winds pumped warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and created a very unstable atmosphere. Showers and thunderstorms developed in association with the front during the early evening hours and moved east into Eastern Arkansas shortly before midnight. Additional thunderstorms occurred in association with the upper level disturbance. Due to the unstable atmosphere, thunderstorms quickly became severe producing large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding. The severe weather evolved into an outbreak by May 1st and 2nd. Historic rainfall and flash flooding in addition to large hail and damaging winds occurred during the early morning hours of May 1st with several tornadoes occurring during the afternoon hours of May 1st to early morning hours of May 2nd.

A tornado touched down on the south side of Humboldt and several houses received roof, siding and garage door damage. One home in Humboldt received partial roof loss and garage damage while the storage shed and wooden swing set were completely destroyed. Several power poles were knocked down before a winery received tree and vine damage. Some tiles were stripped off the business home at the winery. One rural home suffered more extensive damage near the end of the track with partial roof loss, porch removal and brick veneer ripped off the northeast corner of the home. Windows were also blown out on the home with a large well built brick supported carport completely destroyed. A well built 40 foot by 40 foot wood and metal shed on the property was completely destroyed with the wood support beams snapped off one foot above the concrete slab. A tour bus nearby was lifted and turned 180 degrees. A semi trailer on the property was also flipped over. Numerous large trees along the path were either uprooted or damaged. A few smaller trees were snapped off one to two feet above the ground. Several power lines were also knocked down before the tornado lifted near Pleasant Hill Road.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:09 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:49 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:06 UTC and running to 08:40 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:47 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.

Jackson/Mckellar (MKL), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:18 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 2010 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.