Tornadoes · United States · Virginia · 2009

EF0 tornado, Lebanon, Virginia, May 8, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Russell County on May 8, 2009, touching down at 10:25 PM EDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 8, 2009
Touchdown
10:25 PM EDT (02:25 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Russell County
Touchdown point
36.910, -82.093
Lift-off point
36.910, -82.093
Record number
0905082025-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A highly organized mesoscale convective vorticity maximum with strong low to mid tropospheric flow coupled with moderate instability resulted in the development of discrete supercellular thunderstorms. These storms produced a long-lived tornado across Northeast Tennessee late in the afternoon and another long duration tornado across Southwest Virginia later in the evening.

An EF0 tornado briefly touched down about one mile northwest of Lebanon. The path length was one tenth of a mile and the path width was 20 yards. Maximum wind speed was 65 miles an hour.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 8, 9:00 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 9:00 PM EDT, 1 hour 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
900 PM EDT FRI MAY 8 2009

.DISCUSSION...ISOLATED TORNADO-PRODUCING SUPERCELL CONTINUES TO
MOVE EAST AND SHOULD BE OUT OF THE FORECAST AREA WITHIN THE NEXT
HOUR OR SO. HOWEVER...CONVECTION HAS REDEVELOPED IN WEST TENNESSEE
AND WILL REACH THE FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT IF IT HOLDS TOGETHER.
THIS MCS JUSTIFIES KEEPING LIKELY POPS IN OVERNIGHT. OTHERWISE...
TEMPS APPEAR GENERALLY ON TRACK. NO CHANGES TO CURRENT FORECAST ARE
WARRANTED AT THIS TIME.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN             64  78  59  72  53 /  70  60  50  50  50
KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT, TN  63  77  58  71  51 /  70  60  40  50  50
OAK RIDGE, TN                       63  77  58  71  52 /  70  60  40  50  50
TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN              62  75  57  69  49 /  70  60  40  40  40

&&

.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC...NONE.
TN...NONE.
VA...NONE.
&&

LCM
Hazardous weather outlook, May 8, 9:35 AM EDT, 12 hours 50 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
935 AM EDT (835 CDT) FRI MAY 8 2009

NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002-
005-006-008-091000-
CHEROKEE-CLAY-SCOTT TN-CAMPBELL-CLAIBORNE-HANCOCK-HAWKINS-
SULLIVAN-JOHNSON-MORGAN-ANDERSON-UNION-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN-
NORTHWEST COCKE-COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTHWEST GREENE-
SOUTHEAST GREENE-WASHINGTON TN-UNICOI-NORTHWEST CARTER-
SOUTHEAST CARTER-ROANE-LOUDON-KNOX-JEFFERSON-NW BLOUNT-
BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTH SEVIER-SEVIER SMOKY MOUNTAINS-
SEQUATCHIE-BLEDSOE-RHEA-MEIGS-MCMINN-NORTHWEST MONROE-
SOUTHEAST MONROE-MARION-HAMILTON-BRADLEY-WEST POLK-EAST POLK-LEE-
WISE-SCOTT-RUSSELL-WASHINGTON-
935 AM EDT (835 CDT) FRI MAY 8 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST
VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ANOTHER COMPLEX OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO MOVE
ACROSS THE TENNESSEE RIVER VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON. WITH THIS NEXT
SYSTEM...THERE WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD DAMAGING
WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. IN ADDITION...AN
ISOLATED TORNADO OR TWO WILL BE POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES AND FRONTAL BOUNDARIES WILL
CREATE A GOOD CHANCE OF MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH
SUNDAY. NO WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED...BUT A FEW
STRONG TO MARGINALLY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP JUST ABOUT
ANY AFTERNOON OR EVENING THROUGH SUNDAY.

SATURATED GROUNDS FROM SEVERAL WET DAYS COULD CAUSE TREES TO FALL
MORE EASILY THAN NORMAL. ANY ADDITIONAL SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL MAY
CAUSE RIVERS AND STREAMS TO RISE TO NEAR OR ABOVE ABOVE FLOOD
STAGE...AND LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING AND POSSIBLE MUD SLIDES. REMAIN
ALERT FOR THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER...ESPECIALLY IF YOU
LIVE NEAR AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS...AND ANY OTHER FLOOD PRONE AREAS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON...AND MAY BE
NEEDED AT TIMES THROUGH SUNDAY.

DMG

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 8, 7:14 PM EDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
714 PM EDT FRI MAY 08 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0705 PM     TSTM WND GST     TAZEWELL                36.46N 83.58W
05/08/2009  E55 MPH          CLAIBORNE          TN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            SPOTTER REPORTED 55-60 MPH WIND GUSTS ON CEDAR FORK RD.

&&

CCARPENT
Local storm report, May 8, 7:30 PM EDT, 2 hours 55 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
730 PM EDT FRI MAY 08 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0715 PM     TORNADO          TAZEWELL                36.46N 83.58W
05/08/2009                   CLAIBORNE          TN   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

            TORNADO TOUCH DOWN SOUTHERN CLAIBORNE COUNTY JUST
            SOUTHWEST OF NEW TAZEWELL ALONG COLE RD.

&&

CCARPENT
Local storm report, May 8, 7:43 PM EDT, 2 hours 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
743 PM EDT FRI MAY 08 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0734 PM     TORNADO          THORN HILL              36.36N 83.42W
05/08/2009                   GRAINGER           TN   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TORNADO ON THE GROUND MOVING EAST NEAR THORN HILL.
            REPORTED BY SPOTTER.

&&

CCARPENT
Local storm report, May 8, 9:03 PM EDT, 1 hour 22 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
903 PM EDT FRI MAY 08 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0854 PM     HAIL             JEAROLDSTOWN            36.36N 82.82W
05/08/2009  E0.75 INCH       GREENE             TN   PUBLIC

            PENNY SIZE HAIL AT JEAROLDSTOWN. REPORTED BY PUBLIC.

&&

CCARPENT
Local storm report, May 8, 10:02 PM EDT, 23 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1002 PM EDT FRI MAY 08 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0558 PM     TORNADO          5 SE HUNTSVILLE         36.36N 84.42W
05/08/2009                   SCOTT              TN   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            SEVERAL HOMES DESTROYED IN THE FAIRVIEW COMMUNITY. ZERO
            INJURIES. REPORTED BY DISPATCH.

&&

CCARPENT
Local storm report, May 8, 10:16 PM EDT, 9 minutes before
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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.

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 00:00Z

2.4 hours before the tornado, 217 km from the path. May 9, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2009-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 216 joules per kilogram, CIN -94, lifted condensation level 1148 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 00:00Z on 2009-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 155 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
216 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-94 J/kg
Surface CAPE
589 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
212 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC (KGSO), 12:00Z

9.6 hours after it, 217 km from the path. May 9, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2009-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 682 joules per kilogram, CIN -132, lifted condensation level 1033 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Greensboro/Hi Pt, NC at 12:00Z on 2009-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 114 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
682 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-132 J/kg
Surface CAPE
299 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1033 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Abingdon (VJI), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Jackson,KY radar (KJKL), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:24 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in VirginiaEvery tornado in Virginia since 1950Warnings in force in Virginia nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 8, 2009

45 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 87:53 AM CDTEF1Dade, MO1.9100$35,000
May 88:05 AM CDTEF1Greene, MO3.9100$1.0 million
May 88:14 AM CDTEF1Greene, MO1.875$200,000
May 88:16 AM CDTEF1Polk, MO8.6250$2.0 million
May 88:21 AM CDTEF0Greene, MO3.5100$100,000
May 88:25 AM CDTEF1Taney, MO12.3880$2.6 million
May 88:38 AM CDTEF1Webster, MO3.8400$50,000
May 88:39 AM CDTEF2Douglas, MO2.31,320$200,000
May 88:39 AM CDTEF2Douglas, MO2.5880$20,000
May 88:41 AM CDTEF2Dallas, MO4.34002$2.0 million
May 88:48 AM CDTEF1Douglas, MO1.1200$50,000
May 88:48 AM CDTEF1Ozark, MO1.6440$200,000
May 89:07 AM CDTEF1Wright, MO3.8440$50,000
May 89:19 AM CDTEF0Texas, MO6.8200$50,000
May 89:25 AM CDTEF2Laclede, MO2.0440$500,000
May 89:28 AM CDTEF3Howell, MO2.2800$500,000
May 89:35 AM CDTEF2Howell, MO27.98802$2.5 million
May 89:35 AM CDTEF1Howell, MO10.8880$500,000
May 89:40 AM CDTEF1Texas, MO3.5440$25,000
May 810:25 AM CDTEF1Reynolds, MO1.8440
May 811:20 AM CDTEF0Perry, MO2.250$7,000
May 811:30 AM CDTEF1Jackson, IL3.1100$80,000
May 811:32 AM CDTEF0Jackson, IL0.430
May 812:05 PM CDTEF0Madison, MO0.550
May 812:10 PM CDTEF1Madison, MO0.530
May 81:12 PM CDTEF0Jackson, IL0.140$10,000
May 81:18 PM CDTEF0Franklin, IL0.340
May 81:40 PM CDTEF0Clay, IA0.350
May 81:45 PM CDTEF1Franklin, IL5.5150
May 83:04 PM CDTEF1Barren, KY5.830$50,000
May 84:55 PM EDTEF3Garrard, KY21.1150215
May 85:02 PM EDTEF0McMinn, TN0.120
May 84:15 PM CDTEF1Fentress, TN2.650$150,000
May 85:18 PM EDTEF0Estill, KY0.350$15,000
May 85:58 PM EDTEF2Scott, TN4.5200$90,000
May 86:40 PM EDTEF0Union, TN0.820
May 87:15 PM EDTEF2Claiborne, TN2.2100
May 87:36 PM EDTEF1Grainger, TN9.4100$15,000
May 88:45 PM EDTEF0Washington, TN0.120
May 89:00 PM EDTEF0Dickenson, VA0.6100$5,000
May 88:14 PM CDTEF0Warren, IL0.525
May 89:45 PM EDTEF2Wise, VA1.7120
May 810:27 PM EDTEF2Russell, VA1.1250
May 811:44 PM EDTEF2Alleghany, NC4.92006$200,000
May 811:46 PM EDTEF1Alleghany, NC0.330$5,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.