EF2 tornado, Morganville to Lewis Chapel, Tennessee, November 29, 2016

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

November 29, 2016

Touchdown

11:03 PM CST (05:03 UTC)

Lifted

11:12 PM CST (05:12 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

8.2 miles (13.1 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Counties

Sequatchie and Marion counties

Touchdown point

35.248, -85.446

Lift-off point

35.326, -85.337

Record number

1611292303-01

10 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MRX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 135 mph.

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

A strong upper level system moved through the Eastern United States late Tuesday into early Wednesday. The associated surface low pressure system pressed north northeast from the Lower Mississippi across the Mid South on its way across the Lower Ohio Valley. While there were reports of damaging straight line wind with some of the thunderstorms generated ahead of the system cold front, the main and concentrated areas of damage were associated with tornadic supercell thunderstorms. The supercell storms developed in an area of strong shear and sufficient; albeit weak instability. Tornadoes formed in a zone favorable to rotating thunderstorm updrafts just north of a warm frontal boundary across the Tennessee Valley of Alabama northeast through Southeast Tennessee. Three tornadoes developed during the early morning hours on Wednesday, November 30th; impacting McMinn, Polk, Marion, and Sequatchie counties.

A tornado formed in far northern Marion County, about one half mile from the Sequatchie County border and quickly intensified to a strong EF-2 tornado with winds of 130 mph as it crossed into Sequatchie County. A double wide mobile home was completely destroyed and an adjacent church roof was heavily damaged. The tornado passed through a grove of trees snapping nearly all of them halfway up the trunk. The strong tornado passed through a farm and caused significant damage to a two story family home. This part of the tornado path was determined to be at the high end of the EF-2 rating. As the tornado continued along a northeasterly track, two additional homes were heavily damaged before moving along an unpopulated ridge. The tornado likely skipped along this ridge as it crossed Highway 127 and then crossed Highway 111. A mobile home roof was completely removed near the corner of Shell Road and Tri Mile Road along with numerous trees that were either uprooted or snapped. The damage track seemed to end near Snow Bird Lane and Raven Cliff Road. Rear flank downdraft damage was noted farther east along Lewis Chapel Road to about Laurelwood Trail. Major roof damage was seen along Natures Trail and Lewis Chapel Road where winds were estimated around 100 mph.

A tornado formed in far northern Marion County, about one half mile from the Sequatchie County border and quickly intensified to a strong EF-2 tornado with winds of 130 mph as it crossed into Sequatchie County. A double wide mobile home was completely destroyed and an adjacent church roof was heavily damaged. The tornado passed through a grove of trees snapping nearly all of them halfway up the trunk. The strong tornado passed through a farm and caused significant damage to a two story family home. This part of the tornado path was determined to be at the high end of the EF-2 rating. As the tornado continued along a northeasterly track, two additional homes were heavily damaged before moving along an unpopulated ridge. The tornado likely skipped along this ridge as it crossed Highway 127 and then crossed Highway 111. A mobile home roof was completely removed near the corner of Shell Road and Tri Mile Road along with numerous trees that were either uprooted or snapped. The damage track seemed to end near Snow Bird Lane and Raven Cliff Road. Rear flank downdraft damage was noted farther east along Lewis Chapel Road to about Laurelwood Trail. Major roof damage was seen along Natures Trail and Lewis Chapel Road where winds were estimated around 100 mph.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS MRX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:58 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:05 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:15 UTC and running to 08:55 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:51 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.

Chattanooga/Lovell (CHA), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:00 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 2016 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.