EF3 Columbia tornado, Tennessee, May 8, 2024

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 8, 2024

Touchdown

5:37 PM CDT (22:37 UTC)

Lifted

6:07 PM CDT (23:07 UTC)

On the ground

30 minutes

Path length

11.5 miles (18.6 km)

Path width

900 yards (823 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

12

Property damage

$10 million

Counties

Maury and Marshall counties

Touchdown point

35.609, -87.001

Lift-off point

35.662, -86.806

Record number

2405081637-01

146 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 140 mph.

• Wide swath of trees all snapped
• Poorly constructed old house
• Several snapped trees, one fell on the shed.
• Trees snapped. Mobile home tossed 75 yards.

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

A widespread severe weather event impacted Middle Tennessee beginning in the early morning hours of May 8, 2024, and continued through the early morning hours of May 9th. During this time frame, numerous rounds of severe weather moved through the area, causing widespread wind damage in nearly every county in Middle Tennessee, hail up to 3 inches in diameter, and four tornadoes. One of these tornadoes in Columbia prompted a Tornado Emergency to be issued. In addition, major flash flooding also occurred with the worst flooding reported across Robertson and Sumner counties. With nearly nine inches of rain, Flash Flood Emergencies were issued for these counties. This is the first time National Weather Service Nashville issued both a Tornado Emergency and a Flash Flood Emergency in the same event. Unfortunately, this event claimed the lives of five individuals.

This EF-3 tornado touched down along the Duck River east of Columbia and moved northeast causing tree damage and minor structure damage on Mount Olivet Road. Multiple homes received damage along Cothran Road and Cranford Hollow Road before the tornado moved north of Highway 412. More intense damage began to occur on Old Highway 99 and Blackburn Lane where large sections of roofs were removed and hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado reached its maximum strength along Blackburn Road and Lasea Road where large transmission power trusses were collapsed, a house was destroyed with only small interior walls still standing, and a mobile home was swept away. The tornado continued northeast damaging additional homes before crossing Interstate 65 near mile marker 47. More homes were damaged along Rally Hill Cutoff Road and Kedron Road. The tornado crossed Highway 431 near Kedron Road before lifting in Marshall County. Damages are a rough estimate.

This EF-3 tornado touched down along the Duck River east of Columbia and moved northeast causing tree damage and minor structure damage on Mount Olivet Road. Multiple homes received damage along Cothran Road and Cranford Hollow Road before the tornado moved north of Highway 412. More intense damage began to occur on Old Highway 99 and Blackburn Lane where large sections of roofs were removed and hundreds of trees were snapped or uprooted. The tornado reached its maximum strength along Blackburn Road and Lasea Road where large transmission power trusses were collapsed, a house was destroyed with only small interior walls still standing, and a mobile home was swept away. The tornado continued northeast damaging additional homes before crossing Interstate 65 near mile marker 47. More homes were damaged along Rally Hill Cutoff Road and Kedron Road. The tornado crossed Highway 431 near Kedron Road before lifting in Marshall County. Damages are a rough estimate.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

27 minutes of warning. NWS OHX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:10 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:23 UTC and running to 01:13 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:32 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), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:34 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.

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 2024 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

52 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.