Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2021

EF0 tornado, Lodi, Tennessee, December 6, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Lawrence County on December 6, 2021, touching down at 6:34 AM CST and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
December 6, 2021
Touchdown
6:34 AM CST (12:34 UTC)
Lifted
6:35 AM CST (12:35 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Lawrence County
Touchdown point
35.234, -87.544
Lift-off point
35.235, -87.540
Record number
2112060634-01

What the Weather Service recorded

After some isolated thunderstorms moved across Middle Tennessee during the afternoon and evening hours on December 5, a line of severe thunderstorms moved across Middle Tennessee during the early morning hours on December. This line of thunderstorms produced 5 tornadoes and numerous reports of wind damage.

A brief EF0 tornado touched down along Key West Road, blowing down several trees. It moved east to Pond Field road, uprooting a few large trees. The tornado lifted just a few hundred yards to the east in an open field.

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

The warnings

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:32 UTC13:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOHX
12:40 UTC13:15 UTCTornado WarningOHX

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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 air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

0.6 hours before the tornado, 131 km from the path. December 6, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2021-12-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 250 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 665 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2021-12-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 509 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
250 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
264 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
665 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
509 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
600 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
3.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

11.4 hours after it, 131 km from the path. December 7, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2021-12-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -140054, lifted condensation level 1547 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2021-12-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -69 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 84 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-140054 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1547 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
84 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Lawrenceburg (2M2), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
10:35 UTC64.459190° 8 kt141011.9
10:55 UTC64.459190° 8 kt171011.9
11:15 UTC64.459200° 13 kt221011.5
11:35 UTC64.459190° 12 kt231010.8
11:55 UTC64.459190° 9 kt181010.5
12:15 UTC62.660.8190° 9 kt1011.2
12:35 UTC62.660.8190° 7 kt141010.8BR
12:55 UTC62.660.8250° 11 kt1012.5BR
13:15 UTC57.255.4310° 8 kt151013.5BR
13:35 UTC57.255.4330° 6 kt1013.5
13:55 UTC57.255.40° 0 kt1014.6
14:15 UTC57.255.40° 0 kt1014.9BR

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

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 137 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:34 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
12:34 UTCTORNADO12 W LawrenceburgLawrence, TNA BRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG KEY WEST ROAD, BLOWING DOWN SEVERAL TREES. IT MOVED EAST TO POND FIELD ROAD, UPROOTING A FEW LARGE TREES. THE TORNADO LIFTED JUST A FEW HUNDRED YARDS TO THE EAST IN AN OPEN FIELD. P
12:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG12 W LawrenceburgLawrence, TNTREES DOWN ON BOTH SIDE OF KEY WEST ROAD NEAR POND FIELD ROAD. NUMEROUS OTHER TREES DOWN IN THE WESTPOINT AREA.
12:48 UTCTSTM WND DMGLawrenceburgLawrence, TNEMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTED 155 HOUSES WITHOUT POWER DUE TO LIMBS DOWN ON POWER LINES. LOCATIONS AROUND LAWRENCEBURG. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.
12:48 UTCTSTM WND DMGLawrenceburgLawrence, TNTREES ACROSS ROAD ON LOVERS LANE. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 6, 2021

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 64:10 AM ESTEF1Franklin, KY1.550
December 64:22 AM ESTEF1Scott, KY0.3602
December 63:23 AM CSTEF0Graves, KY5.9100$25,000
December 63:34 AM CSTEF1Graves, KY9.6500$229,000
December 64:33 AM CSTEF1Todd, KY8.6100$150,000
December 64:40 AM CSTEF0Todd, KY4.475$10,000
December 65:59 AM CSTEF0Trousdale, TN4.8100$15,000
December 66:55 AM CSTEF0Vernon Parish, LA0.210$2,000
December 66:56 AM CSTEF0Overton, TN2.6100$15,000
December 67:04 AM CSTEF0Pickett, TN3.0200$25,000
December 67:40 AM CSTEF1Moore, TN8.0100$30,000
December 69:05 AM CSTUnratedMorgan, AL1.3100
December 62:40 PM CSTEF0Washington Parish, LA0.925
December 62:56 PM CSTEF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA4.275$50,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.