EF3 Nashville tornado, Tennessee, March 3, 2020

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 3, 2020

Touchdown

12:32 AM CST (06:32 UTC)

Lifted

1:35 AM CST (07:35 UTC)

On the ground

63 minutes

Path length

60.1 miles (96.7 km)

Path width

1,600 yards (1463 m)

Deaths

5

Injuries

220

Property damage

$1.5 billion

Counties

Davidson, Wilson and Smith counties

Touchdown point

36.172, -86.956

Lift-off point

36.153, -85.890

Record number

2003030032-01

504 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 165 mph.

• Portable buildings completely destroyed, with one blown on top of the school building to the north and another blown down Stafford Street to the northeast
• Portable classroom on top of school
• Remains of portable building on top of school
• Portable building from school in street in front of home

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

From the late evening hours on March 2 into the early morning hours on March 3, supercell thunderstorms developed and spawned tornadoes across southeast Missouri, southern Kentucky, Tennessee, and central Alabama. One of these supercells formed near the Mississippi River in west Tennessee, then tracked eastward across the entire length of the state just north of the Interstate 40 corridor, spawning 10 tornadoes and dropping large hail bigger than the size of baseballs. Seven of these tornadoes touched down across Middle Tennessee, resulting in widespread damage, 307 injuries and 24 fatalities. An additional fatality and 2 more injuries occurred in Benton County in west Tennessee. These tornadoes were the worst seen in Tennessee since the devastating tornadoes of April 27, 2011 across east Tennessee, as well as the Super Tuesday tornadoes of February 5-6, 2008. Total damage estimates from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency across Middle Tennessee reached $1.6 billion.

An historic, long-track, strong EF-3 tornado began in western Davidson County then tracked eastward for over 60 miles through Wilson County into Smith County before lifting, causing 5 deaths and 220 injuries. This tornado touched down west of River Road Pike then moved eastward across Bells Bend, destroying a barn and blowing down numerous trees. The tornado strengthened significantly and widened to 0.65 miles wide as it crossed the Cumberland River into the John C. Tune Airport area, causing strong EF-2 damage to numerous planes, hangers, warehouses, and other buildings from Cockrill Bend Way to Briley Parkway. Around $200 million in damage was reported at John C. Tune Airport alone. Continuing eastward, the tornado caused severe damage to the Tennessee State Prison and blew down numerous high-tension transmission towers as it again crossed the Cumberland River into North Nashville, with up to EF-2 damage to farm facilities at Tennessee State University and dozens of homes between I-40 and Buchanan Street. EF-2 damage continued across the Germantown neighborhood just 1/2 mile north of downtown Nashville with several damaged and destroyed apartment complexes, homes, and businesses. The tornado intensified further as it tracked through East Nashville, with EF-3 damage to businesses and other buildings in the Five Points area and EF-2 damage to homes in the Lockeland Springs and Barclay Drive neighborhoods. Two people were killed in Five Points after leaving a bar and going outside as the tornado struck. After crossing the Cumberland River yet again, the tornado weakened as it moved northeast through the Donelson Hills and Lincoya Hills neighborhoods of Donelson, but strengthened again to a strong EF-3 in the Standford Estates area where several homes were leveled. The tornado weakened slightly but continued to cause EF-2 damage to homes and businesses as it turned southeast and passed through Hermitage into Wilson County. ||Dozens of homes continued to sustain up to EF-2 damage as the tornado moved across the Chandler Road and Triple Crown Parkway neighborhoods of Mount Juliet. Turning more to the northeast, the tornado strenghtened to strong EF-3 and leveled numerous homes in the Catalpa Drive and Clearview Drive neighborhoods, with one elderly couple killed on Catalpa Drive at Dogwood Drive. Crossing Mount Juliet Road, the tornado severely damaged West Wilson Middle School and Stoner Creek Elementary School, both of which will have to be torn down and rebuilt. The tornado reached its peak intensity of high-end EF-3 and peak size of 0.9 miles wide as it moved across Golden Bear Parkway and along Eastgate Blvd, leveling several large warehouses and killing a security guard at the CEVA warehouse on Athletes Way North. Crossing Highway 109 into Lebanon, the tornado weakened to EF-2 but continued damaging dozens of homes and businesses as it moved through southern sections of the city. Further to the east, buildings on both sides of I-40 in Tuckers Crossroads received up to EF-2 damage before the tornado turned southeast and crossed into Smith County. Weakening and shrinking in size, the tornado caused EF-1 damage to numerous homes and businesses in Grant, New Middleton, and just south of Gordonsville. The tornado finally lifted east of Highway 141 and north of Judkins Lane after a continuous 60.13 miles on the ground.

An historic, long-track, strong EF-3 tornado began in western Davidson County then tracked eastward for over 60 miles through Wilson County into Smith County before lifting, causing 5 deaths and 220 injuries. This tornado touched down west of River Road Pike then moved eastward across Bells Bend, destroying a barn and blowing down numerous trees. The tornado strengthened significantly and widened to 0.65 miles wide as it crossed the Cumberland River into the John C. Tune Airport area, causing strong EF-2 damage to numerous planes, hangers, warehouses, and other buildings from Cockrill Bend Way to Briley Parkway. Around $200 million in damage was reported at John Tune Airport alone. Continuing eastward, the tornado caused severe damage to the Tennessee State Prison and blew down numerous high-tension transmission towers as it again crossed the Cumberland River into North Nashville, with up to EF-2 damage to farm facilities at Tennessee State University and dozens of homes between I-40 and Buchanan Street. EF-2 damage continued across the Germantown neighborhood just 1/2 mile north of downtown Nashville with several damaged and destroyed apartment complexes, homes, and businesses. The tornado intensified further as it tracked through East Nashville, with EF-3 damage to businesses and other buildings in the Five Points area and EF-2 damage to homes in the Lockeland Springs and Barclay Drive neighborhoods. Two people were killed in Five Points after leaving a bar and going outside as the tornado struck. After crossing the Cumberland River yet again, the tornado weakened as it moved northeast through the Donelson Hills and Lincoya Hills neighborhoods of Donelson, but strengthened again to a strong EF-3 in the Standford Estates area where several homes were leveled. The tornado weakened slightly but continued to cause EF-2 damage to homes and businesses as it turned southeast and passed through Hermitage into Wilson County. ||Dozens of homes continued to sustain up to EF-2 damage as the tornado moved across the Chandler Road and Triple Crown Parkway neighborhoods of Mount Juliet. Turning more to the northeast, the tornado strenghtened to strong EF-3 and leveled numerous homes in the Catalpa Drive and Clearview Drive neighborhoods, with one elderly couple killed on Catalpa Drive at Dogwood Drive. Crossing Mount Juliet Road, the tornado severely damaged West Wilson Middle School and Stoner Creek Elementary School, both of which will have to be torn down and rebuilt. The tornado reached its peak intensity of high-end EF-3 and peak size of 0.9 miles wide as it moved across Golden Bear Parkway and along Eastgate Blvd, leveling several large warehouses and killing a security guard at the CEVA warehouse on Athletes Way North. Crossing Highway 109 into Lebanon, the tornado weakened to EF-2 but continued damaging dozens of homes and businesses as it moved through southern sections of the city. Further to the east, buildings on both sides of I-40 in Tuckers Crossroads received up to EF-2 damage before the tornado turned southeast and crossed into Smith County. Weakening and shrinking in size, the tornado caused EF-1 damage to numerous homes and businesses in Grant, New Middleton, and just south of Gordonsville. The tornado finally lifted east of Highway 141 and north of Judkins Lane after a continuous 60.13 miles on the ground.

The deaths

5 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:22 UTC and running to 11:08 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 05:56 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 06:30 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 2020 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.