EF1 tornado, Stroudsville to Gause, 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 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 8, 2024

Touchdown

2:43 PM CDT (19:43 UTC)

Lifted

2:49 PM CDT (19:49 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$250,000

County

Robertson County

Touchdown point

36.472, -87.102

Lift-off point

36.467, -87.063

Record number

2405081343-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Tree uprooted on Nashseverewx drone footage
• Trees uprooted on NashSevereWx drone footage
• Swath of trees uprooted on NashSevereWx drone footage
• Numerous trees uprooted in this area on NashSevereWx drone footage

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.

An EF1 tornado touched down about one mile northeast of the Interstate 24 and Stroudville Road intersection in far southwest Robertson County and moved eastward. Several videos of the tornado were taken by residents and storm chasers as the tornado crossed Winters Road and Maxey Road although the only damage was scattered blown down trees. The tornado strengthened as it turned southeast and followed Ridge Road, blowing down dozens of trees and damaging several homes and barns. Three homes had shingle and roofing material loss along with gutter and soffit damage. One home had fourteen trees snapped or uprooted with one falling onto their home. An older 20-by-40 barn on Ridge Road south of Center Drive was picked up and thrown in a northeasterly direction with metal sheeting blown into and wrapped around trees. The tornado took a sharp turn back to the east and continued blowing down trees before it lifted northeast of the Ridge Road and Corlew Road intersection. Damages are a rough estimate.

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 tornado watch, issued at 18:15 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:45 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.

Springfield (M91), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Campbell radar (KHPX), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:44 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.