EF0 tornado, East Side to New Hope, Tennessee, February 6, 2019

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

February 6, 2019

Touchdown

8:02 PM CST (02:02 UTC)

Lifted

8:04 PM CST (02:04 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

Counties

Dickson and Williamson counties

Touchdown point

36.031, -87.205

Lift-off point

36.035, -87.181

Record number

1902062002-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

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

Heavy rain and thunderstorms produced 2 tornadoes and widespread flash flooding across Middle Tennessee from the afternoon of February 6 through the early morning hours on February 7. A warm front that had moved northward into Kentucky early in the day on February 6 sank back southward to near the Interstate 40 corridor by the afternoon, sparking numerous showers and thunderstorms along and just north of the front. As the front effectively stalled in a west-to-east line along the Interstate 40 corridor, showers and storms continued to redevelop and move across the same areas. With rainfall rates approaching 1-2 per hour at times, this led to widespread flash flooding across Humphreys, Dickson, Cheatham, Davidson, Wilson, Smith, Jackson, Putnam, and Overton Counties. This flooding resulted in numerous closed roadways, dozens of water rescues, flooded homes and businesses, significant rises on area creeks and rivers, and unfortunately one fatality in Cheatham County. Total rainfall amounts ranged from 3 inches to nearly 7 inches across these counties. In addition to the flooding, thunderstorms produced two EF-0 tornadoes in Rutherford and Wilson Counties. Lightning also struck homes in Overton and Jackson counties, causing significant fire damage.

This small, brief, and weak EF-0 tornado touched down just north of I-40 in extreme eastern Dickson County about 5.4 miles SSE of White Bluff. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees in all directions as it moved northeast across Highway 96, passing between several homes and businesses and causing no reported damage. Crossing into extreme northwest Williamson County, the tornado moved over County Line Road and continued blowing down trees before lifting about 0.6 miles NNW of the I-40 and Highway 96 interchange. Total path length was 1.4 miles with path width up to 50 yards. The damage path from this tornado was found using a combination of high resolution Google Earth satellite imagery that became available in December 2019, as well as OHX radar data which showed strong rotation and a tornado debris signature.

This small, brief, and weak EF-0 tornado touched down just north of I-40 in extreme eastern Dickson County about 5.4 miles SSE of White Bluff. The tornado snapped and uprooted numerous trees in all directions as it moved northeast across Highway 96, passing between several homes and businesses and causing no reported damage. Crossing into extreme northwest Williamson County, the tornado moved over County Line Road and continued blowing down trees before lifting about 0.6 miles NNW of the I-40 and Highway 96 interchange. Total path length was 1.4 miles with path width up to 50 yards. The damage path from this tornado was found using a combination of high resolution Google Earth satellite imagery that became available in December 2019, as well as OHX radar data which showed strong rotation and a tornado debris signature.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:58 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:12 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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 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), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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 2019 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.