EF0 tornado, White House to Chipman, Tennessee, May 4, 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

May 4, 2021

Touchdown

6:21 AM CDT (11:21 UTC)

Lifted

6:25 AM CDT (11:25 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.9 miles (6.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

County

Sumner County

Touchdown point

36.354, -86.560

Lift-off point

36.360, -86.495

Record number

2105040521-01

88 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 87 mph.

• Scattered large branches downnin this area
• A few trees uprooted innthisbarea
• Scattered large branches down here
• large tree branches down in this area

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

A QLCS (Quasi-linear Convective System) moved across Middle Tennessee during the early morning hours of May 4, 2021. This line of thunderstorms spawned a total of 14 EF-0 tornadoes throughout Middle Tennessee, at least 4 of which were captured on video by local residents. In addition to the tornadoes, significant straight-line wind damage also affected many other areas of Middle Tennessee, and was just as damaging as the tornadoes in many cases. Thankfully, no injuries or deaths were reported.||Special thanks goes to Middle Tennessee emergency management, tSpotter coordinators, and the public for their assistance and helpful information with these difficult and lengthy storm surveys.

A small, brief and weak EF-0 tornado touched down in White House along Highway 76 just west of Highway 31W, then moved northeast across the Highway 31W and Portland Road intersection area before lifting near Reidway Drive. A few trees were knocked down west of Highway 31W and the sheet metal roof was blown off a building on Highway 31. Part of the metal roof was also blown off a variety store on Portland Road and a few more trees were knocked down east of Portland Road before the tornado lifted. A resident captured the small tornado on video as he drove south on Highway 31. Total path length was 0.71 miles.

This EF-0 tornado touched down along Saundersville Road north of Country Hills Golf Course, snapping power poles and uprooting trees. The tornado continued to intermittently touch down as it moved northeast, and was captured on video along Big Station Camp Blvd near Springdale Lane. Several trees were blown down along Vietnam Veterans Blvd, and two large barns were completely destroyed on St Blaise Road. The tornado weakened quickly as it passed through the west side of the Vol State College Campus and a Publix Supermarket parking lot on Highway 31E, blowing down a few trees and signs before lifting.

This EF-0 tornado began on the southeast side of Gallatin near Coles Ferry Road and moved eastward, blowing down numerous trees on Steam Plant Road, Newton Lane, Hidden Cove Road, Cairo Road, and Lakeview Road. Trees continued to be blown down as the tornado passed south of Castalian Springs on East Robertson Road, Harsh Lane, Macedonia Road, and Corum Hill Road before the tornado dissipated.

An EF-0 tornado touched down along Rock Springs Road south of Chenault Lane, heavily damaging a barn and blowing down numerous trees. The tornado then moved east across Lauderdale Lane and Homer Scott Road, continuing to blow down trees. Turning more southeast and entering Trousdale County, the tornado damaged several homes and blew down dozens of trees along Highway 231, Templow Road, Bass Road, Walnut Grove Road, and Gore Lane. Total path length of 5.05 miles.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:56 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 10:15 UTC and running to 14:16 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 05:30 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), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:20 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

38 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.