EF2 tornado, Only to White Bluff, Tennessee, December 11, 2021

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

December 11, 2021

Touchdown

2:40 AM CST (08:40 UTC)

Lifted

2:51 AM CST (08:51 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

10.9 miles (17.5 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$2.0 million

Counties

Hickman and Dickson counties

Touchdown point

35.979, -87.480

Lift-off point

36.051, -87.312

Record number

2112110240-01

69 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 130 mph.

• House wasn’t attached by anything but nails. Southeast inflow winds likely went in the basement garage, and helped this house slide off the top.
• Hundreds of trees snapped or uprooted facing west southwest
• Dozens of trees snapped and uprooted with roof damage to homes
• Several houses with roof and garage damage

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

One of the worst tornado outbreaks ever recorded in the United States struck the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Tennessee Valley from the evening hours on December 10 into the morning hours on December 11, 2021. Across Middle Tennessee, a total of 16 tornadoes were determined to have touched down, making this the 5th largest tornado outbreak on record in Middle Tennessee. These tornadoes injured 8 people across Middle Tennessee and caused millions of dollars in property and tree damage in many counties. These tornadoes, combined with the 5 tornadoes that occurred just a few days earlier across Middle Tennessee on December 6, 2021, set a new record for the number of tornadoes during the month of December. In addition, many counties that had tornadoes in December 2021 had never recorded a tornado in the month of December before, including Stewart, Humphreys, Cheatham, Wilson, Trousdale, Overton, Pickett, Coffee, and Grundy Counties.

Damage from this tornado started in northern Perry County with some uprooted trees and damage to an outbuilding noted along Crooked Creek Road. A swath of uprooted trees could also be seen on NASA satellite imagery between Crooked Creek Road and Highway 13 across the Walker Hollow and Lott Hollow areas. Continuing northeast, the tornado blew down more trees and damaged outbuildings along Red Bank Road before moving into Humphreys County, where a RV was overturned and roof torn off a barn along Highway 13. The tornado strengthened as it moved through rural forests towards I-40, with thousands of snapped and uprooted trees noted on high resolution satellite imagery near and south of the interstate. Crossing I-40 near mile marker 146 and Barren Hollow Road, the tornado continued blowing down thousands of trees as it pushed northeast. The tornado crossed into far northwest Hickman County and continued to blow down hundreds of trees along Duck River Road and Epperson Hollow Road before lifting west of Spence Hollow Road. Total path length of this tornado was around 15.16 miles. Based on newly available high resolution satellite imagery in March 2023, this tornado was upgraded to EF-2 due to the extreme tree damage between Highway 13 and I-40, and the path length and width were also increased.

This tornado touched down in far northwest Hickman County east of Spencer Hollow Road and moved northeast across Pewitt Hollow Road, Berryman Hollow Road, I-40 near Old Salt Lick Road, and Old Beaver Creek Road before ending west of Garners Creek Road. The track of this tornado was determined using high resolution NASA satellite imagery. Numerous trees were uprooted along the path which closed I-40 for many hours. No structure damage was reported in this very rural area. Based on newly available high resolution satellite imagery, this tornado was upgraded to EF-1 in March 2023 due to the large number of trees blown down, and the path adjusted, widened and extended to the west by 1 mile.

This strong EF-2 tornado began in extreme northern Hickman County south of I-40, then tracked northeast across Plunders Creek Road and Brambling Springs Road where it blew down numerous trees. The tornado crossed I-40 near mile marker 166 along Piney Road where it snapped and uprooted dozens of trees on N Mount Sinai Road. The most intense damage occurred on Murrell Drive where multiple homes were heavily damaged or destroyed as they shifted off of their foundations, experienced extensive roof damage, or had exterior walls collapse. In addition to the structural damage, hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted in the same area. The tornado continued northeast damaging trees on Lena Road, and causing roof damage to homes on Stephen Street and Ridgecrest Drive. The storm crossed Highway 46, damaging the roof and exterior of the Renaissance Center and snapping electric poles along Printwood Drive. It weakened from that point, damaging multiple trees before dissipating just south of downtown Burns. The track of this tornado was extended using high resolution NASA satellite imagery, with a total path length of 10.87 miles.

This EF-2 tornado touched down near Highway 70 between White Bluff and Kingston Springs, blowing down a few trees and causing roof damage to a few homes in Dickson County. Moving into Cheatham County while staying north of Highway 70, there was severe roof damage to homes on Sneed Road and dozens of trees were snapped. Many more homes and a few businesses and churches suffered roof damage and dozens of trees were blown down further to the east along Highway 70, Butterworth Road, and Old Butterworth Road. Several outbuildings collapsed, more homes and churches were damaged, and power poles blown down further eastward along Highway 70 and Cedar Hill Road. The tornado continued northeastward across rural areas of southeastern Cheatham County, blowing down more trees and damaging roofs and outbuildings along Sams Creek Road, Indian Springs Road and Pond Creek Road before the tornado lifted just east of the Davidson County line. The track of this tornado was adjusted using high resolution NASA satellite imagery. Total path length of this tornado was 12.61 miles.

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

33 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:07 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:45 UTC and running to 11:00 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:48 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.

Dickson (M02), 13 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Nashville radar (KOHX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:40 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 2021 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

37 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.