EF0 tornado, Joelton to Chipman, Tennessee, January 30, 2013

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

January 30, 2013

Touchdown

3:10 AM CST (09:10 UTC)

Lifted

3:23 AM CST (09:23 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

11.7 miles (18.7 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$190,000

Crop damage

$50,000

Counties

Davidson and Sumner counties

Touchdown point

36.356, -86.767

Lift-off point

36.414, -86.571

Record number

1301300310-01

443 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 116 mph.

• Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along Browns Lane south of Woodlake Drive
• Windows were blown out and half of a gas station roof was blown off on Mount Zion Road at Tom Austin Highway. Photo of damage by Smokey Barn News.
• Several hardwood trees were uprooted along New Cut Road south of Palestine Road
• Large tree limbs were blown down along Greenhill Road

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A powerful upper level trough moved across the United States from Tuesday, January 29th into Wednesday, January 30th. This system contained unusually strong winds aloft, with wind speeds of 80 mph just 2500 feet above the surface and up to 150 mph at 20,000 feet. A record warm airmass with temperatures in the 60s and 70s spread northward ahead of the system into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, bringing weak atmospheric instability into the region. As a powerful cold front moved eastward across Middle Tennessee during the early morning hours of January 30, the strong low level jet ahead of the front caused strong gradient winds of 40 to 65 mph at the surface, resulting in several reports of wind damage. A peak sustained south wind of 45 mph with a peak gust of 64 mph was measured by the ASOS at the Nashville International Airport around 315 AM CST in association with these intense gradient winds. A line of showers and thunderstorms known as a Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) developed along the front near the Tennessee River and raced eastward through the area between 2 AM and 6 AM, producing at least 23 tornadoes and widespread wind damage. This severe weather event resulted in 1 fatality and at least 3 injuries across the Mid State. The total of 23 tornadoes made the January 30, 2013 event the largest January tornado outbreak in Middle Tennessee history. It also made January 30, 2013 the second biggest outbreak of tornadoes for any month in Middle Tennessee history.

An EF0 tornado began in Joelton along Harper Road between I-24 and Highway 41 where 3 large oak trees were uprooted and fell in a convergent pattern. The damage path continued east northeast with mostly tree damage. Along Bidwell Road, damage to a roof and barn was observed along with 10 to 15 downed trees. The path of damage crossed Wilkinson Road, Ridgewood Road, and Ivy Point Road where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted before the tornado lifted.

An EF0 tornado touched down west of Freeman Hollow Road at Freeman Hollow Court where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. Additional trees were blown down with a few homes receiving minor roof damage to the east along Baker Road, Old Springfield Pike, and Highway 11. An old barn was also destroyed east of Highway 11. The tornado then crossed into Sumner County.

An EF0 tornado touched down just northeast of the I-65 and Trinity Lane interchange and moved eastward along a narrow intermittent path through East Nashville before ending around McGavock Pike in Inglewood just to the west of the Cumberland River. Several mobile homes were heavily damaged by falling trees along Dickerson Pike, with one woman receiving a minor injury in the Ranchwood Mobile Home Park. Numerous homes had minor roof and exterior damage along Donald Street, Gordon Terrace, Woodyhill Drive, and Jones Avenue, and several large trees were blown down. Some roof damage was noted to health department buildings on RS Gass drive south of Hart Lane. Dozens of more homes suffered minor roof and exterior damage from the Gillock Street and Gallatin Pike area eastward to near McGavock Pike, with numerous trees and fences blown down.

An EF0 tornado moved out of Davidson County into Sumner County at Millersville. Numerous homes suffered minor roof and exterior damage along a narrow path across Williamson Road, Jesse Brown Drive, Cimmaron Drive, and other adjacent streets. Crossing I-65, a few more homes received minor roof damage on Lewis Drive. The tornado continued eastward with additional minor damage to homes along Patton Branch Road and Hogans Branch Road. Near the intersection of Tyree Springs Road and Sandy Valley Road, the tornado destroyed two garage buildings. Some more homes had minor roof damage along the path until the tornado lifted along Upper Station Camp Road. Dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted all along the path.

A tornado moved from Robertson County into Sumner County around one-half mile north of the Highway 25 and Highway 31 junction. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along Highway 31, Spring Valley Road, and South Road before the tornado lifted.

An EF0 tornado touched down near the intersection of Highway 31 and Shute Lane in Hendersonville then traveled across southern areas of Gallatin before lifting near Bledsoe Creek State Park. Hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted all along the path with some trees falling on homes and outbuildings. The roof and one side of a mobile home was blown off near the beginning of the path. Several homes had minor roof damage on Drayton Downs, Gordon Crossing, and Nogs Garden roads. The most significant damage occurred in the Fairview Plantation and Baypoint subdivisions where dozens of homes suffered roof and siding damage on Jacobs Drive, Chloe Drive, Browns Lane, Elizabeth Court, Woodlake Drive, Willowlake Drive, and Inneswood Drive. More homes were damaged on Aqua Drive and Lock 4 Road, and several docks at the Gallatin Marina were damaged. Additional minor roof damage occurred to homes along the path until the tornado lifted.

An EF0 tornado touched down near the intersection of Highway 25 and Harsh Lane directly impacting an apple market with minor roof damage. Several trees were snapped and uprooted with several homes receiving minor roof damage along the path until the tornado lifted one half mile north of the intersection of Governor Hall Road and Homer Scott Road.

An EF0 tornado touched down southwest of Bethpage along Alexander Lane then moved easterly before lifting in extreme northwest Trousdale County. Several homes and outbuildings received minor roof damage and the tornado snapped or uprooted numerous trees in all directions along the path. A small shed was destroyed on Wolf Hill Road before the tornado crossed Gravel Hill Road into Trousdale County.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:51 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:10 UTC and running to 10:00 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:09 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), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:09 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 2013 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

44 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.