EF1 tornado, Raus to Tullahoma, Tennessee, December 6, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

December 6, 2021

Touchdown

7:40 AM CST (13:40 UTC)

Lifted

7:48 AM CST (13:48 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

8.0 miles (12.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

Counties

Moore, Bedford and Coffee counties

Touchdown point

35.395, -86.331

Lift-off point

35.393, -86.190

Record number

2112060740-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN and NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 87 mph.

• Trees on two houses. One deck removed from a house. Minor roof damage. Tornado end point.

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

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 line of thunderstorms during the morning hours produced sporadic wind damage and an EF-1 tornado in Moore County.

This tornado touched down in the Raus community near Smith Chapel Road at Elijah Parker Road in far southern Bedford County, where it caused EF0 damage including blowing down a wall at the Raus Community Center and knocking down trees on Powell Hollow Road. Moving eastward, the tornado crossed into Moore County and strengthened to EF-1 where it blew down numerous trees and caused minor damage to several homes along Brinkley Road, Ledford Mill Road, and Motlow College Road. The tornado then moved into Coffee County, continuing to blow down trees and damage homes in areas along and near Ledford Mill Road. The tornado weakened as it entered and moved across northern portions of the city of Tullahoma, where it damaged signs and outbuildings along North Jackson Street, then blew down numerous trees and caused minor roof damage to homes on Normandy Road, Riley Creek Road, around the Lakewood Golf Course, and in the Lake Tullahoma Estates before lifting. Total path length of this tornado was 8.01 miles.

A tornado moved into Moore County from Bedford County, crossing Brinkley Road where several trees were uprooted. It continued to move to the east, continually uprooting trees as it crossed Ledford Mill Road. As the tornado continued its eastward progression, numerous trees were uprooted and a large barn had part of its roof removed near Motlow College Road. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 86 mph.

This tornado touched down in the Raus community near Smith Chapel Road at Elijah Parker Road in far southern Bedford County, where it caused EF0 damage including blowing down a wall at the Raus Community Center and knocking down trees on Powell Hollow Road. Moving eastward, the tornado crossed into Moore County and strengthened to EF-1 where it blew down numerous trees and caused minor damage to several homes along Brinkley Road, Ledford Mill Road, and Motlow College Road. The tornado then moved into Coffee County, continuing to blow down trees and damage homes in areas along and near Ledford Mill Road. The tornado weakened as it entered and moved across northern portions of the city of Tullahoma, where it damaged signs and outbuildings along North Jackson Street, then blew down numerous trees and caused minor roof damage to homes on Normandy Road, Riley Creek Road, around the Lakewood Golf Course, and in the Lake Tullahoma Estates before lifting.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:40 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:57 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 13:00 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 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 Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:40 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

14 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.