Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2026
EF0 tornado, Bledsoe and Cumberland counties, Tennessee, August 1, 2026
This EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Bledsoe and Cumberland counties on August 1, 2026, touching down at 6:21 PM CDT and reaching 140 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS MRX and NWS OHX's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Bledsoe/Cumberland EF0 Tornado. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The survey
- Rating, as surveyed
- EF0, preliminary
- Date
- August 1, 2026
- Touchdown
- 6:21 PM CDT (23:21 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:27 PM CDT (23:27 UTC)
- On the ground
- 6 minutes
- Path length
- 1.8 miles (2.8 km)
- Path width
- 140 yards (128 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Counties
- Bledsoe and Cumberland counties
- Touchdown point
- 35.767, -85.118
- Lift-off point
- 35.784, -85.094
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 75 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS MRX and NWS OHX
- The office's name for it
- Bledsoe/Cumberland EF0 Tornado
- Survey last edited
- August 3, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
At approximately 6:21 PM, a tornado touched down near Grapevine Road in Bledsoe County and moved northeast into Cumberland County. The tornado uprooted trees, removed shingles, and damaged multiple outdoor buildings and a barn. It continued to track to the northeast crossing a wooded area before lifting near Jerry Edmonds Road.
Written by NWS MRX and NWS OHX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
15 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MRX and NWS OHX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 76 mph.
- Unable to access but trees uprooted along hillside
- Shed pushed back on its cinder blocks
- Trees snapped and uprooted. Estimated end point
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
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 forecast that day
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 19:56 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 air that afternoon
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.
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z
11.4 hours before the tornado, 140 km from the path. August 1, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 259 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -29 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 266 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 469 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 291 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 3.6
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.7 K/km
Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z
0.6 hours after it, 140 km from the path. August 2, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 644 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 850 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 873 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 10 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 128 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The surface observations
Crossville Memorial (CSV), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:25 UTC | 160° 8 kt | 1008.5 | ||||
| 21:30 UTC | 160° 7 kt | 1008.5 | ||||
| 21:35 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1008.5 | ||||
| 21:40 UTC | 170° 7 kt | 1008.5 | ||||
| 21:45 UTC | 160° 5 kt | 1008.5 | ||||
| 21:50 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1008.1 | ||||
| 21:53 UTC | 79 | 74 | 170° 6 kt | 1008.1 | ||
| 21:55 UTC | 160° 5 kt | 1008.1 | ||||
| 22:00 UTC | 170° 8 kt | 1008.1 | ||||
| 22:05 UTC | 160° 7 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:07 UTC | 79 | 74 | 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||
| 22:10 UTC | 180° 6 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:15 UTC | 170° 8 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:20 UTC | 180° 7 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:25 UTC | 170° 7 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:30 UTC | 170° 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:35 UTC | 170° 7 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:40 UTC | 170° 6 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:45 UTC | 79 | 75 | 5 kt | 17 | 1007.8 | VCTS |
| 22:45 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:50 UTC | 190° 4 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 22:53 UTC | 79 | 75 | 4 kt | 1007.8 | VCTS | |
| 22:55 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1008.1 | ||||
| 22:56 UTC | 79 | 75 | 6 kt | 1008.1 | BR | |
| 23:00 UTC | 17 | 1007.5 | RA BR | |||
| 23:03 UTC | 76 | 72 | 6 kt | 18 | 1007.8 | -TSRA BR |
| 23:05 UTC | 200° 3 kt | 1007.8 | -RA BR | |||
| 23:10 UTC | 210° 4 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:11 UTC | 76 | 73 | 200° 3 kt | 1007.8 | TS | |
| 23:15 UTC | 210° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:20 UTC | 210° 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:25 UTC | 76 | 73 | 3 kt | 1007.8 | VCTS | |
| 23:25 UTC | 190° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:30 UTC | 200° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:35 UTC | 190° 4 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:40 UTC | 190° 6 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:45 UTC | 190° 8 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:50 UTC | 180° 4 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 23:53 UTC | 76 | 73 | 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 180° 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:00 UTC | 190° 5 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:05 UTC | 190° 3 kt | 1007.8 | -RA | |||
| 00:10 UTC | 170° 4 kt | 1007.5 | -RA | |||
| 00:15 UTC | 150° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:20 UTC | 160° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:25 UTC | 160° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:30 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1008.1 | ||||
| 00:35 UTC | 150° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:40 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:45 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:50 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 00:53 UTC | 74 | 73 | 0° 0 kt | 1007.5 | ||
| 00:55 UTC | 130° 3 kt | 1007.5 | ||||
| 01:00 UTC | 130° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 01:02 UTC | 73 | 72 | 140° 3 kt | 1007.8 | ||
| 01:05 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 01:10 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1007.8 | ||||
| 01:15 UTC | 170° 3 kt | 1007.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:20 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:21 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Wnw Melvine | Bledsoe, TN | EF0 - The start of the tornado occurred in Bledsoe County near Grapevine Road about one quarter of mile south of the Cumberland County line. Several trees were uprooted. No structures were affected in Bledsoe County. The |
| 23:22 UTC | TORNADO | 13 Ssw Crossville | Cumberland, TN | NWS Nashville confirmed an EF0 touched down near Grapevine Rd along the Bledsoe and Cumberland County line. Estimated peak winds were 75 mph and max width was 140 yards. The path length was 1.77 miles, dissipating near J |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in TennesseeEvery tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in Tennessee nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 1, 2026
7 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1 | 1:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Bledsoe, TN | 0.3 | 100 | |||
| August 1 | 5:20 PM EDT | EF0 | Marion, IN | 0.2 | 100 | |||
| August 1 | 6:32 PM EDT | EF1 | Dearborn, IN | 5.2 | 90 | |||
| August 1 | 6:32 PM CDT | EF0 | Fentress, TN | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| August 1 | 7:58 PM EDT | EF1 | Preble, OH | 0.9 | 250 | |||
| August 1 | 8:23 PM EDT | EF0 | Warren, OH | 1.8 | 100 | |||
| August 1 | 8:35 PM EDT | EF0 | Montgomery, OH | 4.7 | 150 |
What this means
Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.
Sources
NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.