EF0 tornado, Luttrell to Northpoint, Tennessee, May 30, 2025

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 30, 2025

Touchdown

8:36 AM EDT (12:36 UTC)

Lifted

8:38 AM EDT (12:38 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (3.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

5

Property damage

$150,000

Counties

Loudon and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

35.653, -84.529

Lift-off point

35.655, -84.484

Record number

2505300636-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MRX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• Trees and large branches snapped
• A couple of trees /branches broken. Minor damage to barn garage door nearby.
• Injury occurred here in the camper. Other barn roof damage at this aid farm.
• Tree damage (2 different rows). Likely RFD winds leading into tornadogenesis.

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

A shortwave trough pushing a weak cold front through the area served as the forcing for this event. The only severe weather observed was a brief EF-0 tornado accompanied by severe rear-flank downdraft winds that injured several residents. This event was unusual: while effective shear was strong at 40 to 50 knots, CAPE was very limited at less than 500J total, and lapse rates were really weak below 6C from the surface upwards. The parent thunderstorm was only broadly and very weakly rotating at time of tornadogenesis.

An EF0 tornado touched down in southern Loudon County in the early morning hours with max winds of 85 mph. Tornado was in Loudon County for roughly 1 mile before exiting into northern Monroe County east of Holt Road. Several injuries occurred when either the tornado itself or the rear flank downdraft winds rolled a camper RV several times up and over a wooden service post. In addition to the RV on the south side of the damage swath, several trees suffered damage, there was roof damage to small structures and a barn, and the tornado left cycloidal markings in the field beyond the RV and houses. When the tornado reached the tree line at the edge of Loudon, several trees had large branches broken off.

An EF0 tornado entered Monroe County from Loudon County and remained on the ground for approximately another mile through northern portions of Monroe County, inflicting minor roof damage to several farm buildings, minor tree damage, and causing additional injuries upon rolling a second RV camper vehicle. The tornado eventually crossed New Hope Road and dissipated shortly thereafter.

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.

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 06:00 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.

Madisonville (MNV), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:38 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 2025 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.