EF2 tornado, Una to Lebanon Arpt, Tennessee, February 24, 2011

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

February 24, 2011

Touchdown

10:02 PM CST (04:02 UTC)

Lifted

10:10 PM CST (04:10 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

7.5 miles (12.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$550,000

Counties

Davidson and Wilson counties

Touchdown point

36.087, -86.616

Lift-off point

36.121, -86.488

Record number

1102242202-01

A strong storm system moved across Middle Tennessee during the evening hours on Thursday, February 24th. This system produced several severe thunderstorms, resulting in mainly tornadic and straight line wind damage events across several counties in the mid state.

Damaged occurred in the Smith Springs Area of southeast Davidson County. Damage began near the intersection of Butler and Smith Springs Road where two churches experienced significant roof damage. Damage continued to the northeast across the Priest Lake Forecast Community where approximately ten homes suffered significant roof damage. A couple of homes had complete roof loss including a two story home which lost most of its second floor. Damage continued northeast across Percy Priest Lake and eventually into Wilson County. The last evidence of damage was near the intersection of Gladieville Circle and Stewarts Ferry Pike.

Damaged occurred in the Smith Springs Area of southeast Davidson County. Damage began near the intersection of Butler and Smith Springs Road where two churches experienced significant roof damage. Damage continued to the northeast across the Priest Lake Forecast Community where approximately ten homes suffered significant roof damage. A couple of homes had complete roof loss including a two story home which lost most of its second floor. Damage continued northeast across Percy Priest Lake and eventually into Wilson County. The last evidence of damage was near the intersection of Gladieville Circle and Stewarts Ferry Pike.

An EF2 tornado touchdown just south of Central Pike along Gladieville Road. Damage continued northeast for eight miles with the last evidence of damage near Interstate 40 and Cumberland Street South of Lebanon. The most significant damage occurred between Franklin Road and State Highway 840. Several warehouse buildings suffered significant roof and wall damage, and a consturction trailer was completely destroyed with debris spread out over hundreds of yards. A 500kv TVA high tension metal truss tower was completely bent over. Hundreds of hardwood trees were either snapped and uprooted.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:02 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:16 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:42 UTC and running to 04:47 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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.

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 Nashville radar (KOHX), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:01 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 2011 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.