EF0 tornado, Unity to Oak Grove, Tennessee, December 6, 2021

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

December 6, 2021

Touchdown

7:04 AM CST (13:04 UTC)

Lifted

7:07 AM CST (13:07 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

Counties

Pickett and Overton counties

Touchdown point

36.479, -85.195

Lift-off point

36.482, -85.141

Record number

2112060704-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

• 3 HVAC units blown over on top of Pine Haven Elementary School

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.

An EF0 tornado touched down west of Independence Road northeast of Allons and moved east across Mullins Lane and Stover Road blowing down trees and damaging the roofs of several barns. The tornado took a slight northeast turn across the intersection of Willow Grove Highway and Cherokee Lane where it blew the metal roof off of one home and damaged several outbuildings and barns. Numerous trees were downed in this area as well. Tree damage continued to the east before the tornado lifted west of Jaybird Lane. This tornado is the first December tornado on record for Overton|County.

An EF0 tornado touched down near the Monroe community east of Garrett Town Lane and moved eastward, blowing down a few trees. It crossed Highway 111 causing damage to fencing around the recycling plant and downed several more trees. As it continued east, the tornado strengthened, blowing down dozens of trees and destroying several outbuildings along Bethsadia Road, Ester Jones Road, and Big Hollow Road. Debris was blown hundreds of yards away along this portion of the path. The tornado lifted near Dale Hollow Lake. This tornado is the first December tornado on record for Pickett County.

An EF0 tornado touched down near the Monroe community east of Garrett Town Lane and moved eastward, blowing down a few trees. It crossed Highway 111 causing damage to fencing around the recycling plant and downed several more trees. As it continued east, the tornado strengthened, blowing down dozens of trees and destroying several outbuildings along Bethsadia Road, Ester Jones Road, and Big Hollow Road. Debris was blown hundreds of yards away along this portion of the path. The tornado lifted near Dale Hollow Lake. This tornado is the first December tornado on record for Pickett County.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:56 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:15 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 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 Nashville radar (KOHX), 128 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:03 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.