EF1 tornado, Drummonds to Crosstown, Tennessee, May 9, 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

May 9, 2021

Touchdown

5:08 PM CDT (22:08 UTC)

Lifted

5:19 PM CDT (22:19 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

4.8 miles (7.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Tipton County

Touchdown point

35.473, -89.898

Lift-off point

35.464, -89.814

Record number

2105091608-01

A cold front pushed into the Mid-South and interacted with an unstable airmass to produce a broken line of showers and thunderstorms that moved across the area from late afternoon into the evening on May 9th. The line interacted with an old outflow boundary to produce a weak tornado in Tipton County. Further south, a bowing segment within the line produced a swath of wind damage across North Mississippi.

The first observed damage was east of Dolan Road and west of Glen Springs Road. The tornado uprooted trees and caused roof damage just west of Glen Springs Road. Across Glen Springs Road, the tornado damaged a storage building and additional trees. The tornado crossed Glen Springs Lake and uprooted trees along Slough Road. Evidence suggested the tornado weakened in this area. The tornado strengthened as it approached Campground Road and Munford Giltedge Road. The tornado damaged a barn, large storage shed and caused roof damage to homes in the area. Trees were uprooted, and a couple of tree trunks were snapped. The tornado continued east and uprooted trees along Plantation Road. Several trees fell onto houses. The last observed damage was west of Beaver Road. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

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

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:27 UTC and running to 23:39 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 19:50 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.

Memphis Nas (NQA), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:07 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

2 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.