EF3 Tornado — Tipton, Tennessee

2023-03-31 · near Munford, Tipton, Tennessee

Event narrative

The tornado developed along Highway 178 just northwest of Munford. A few fences were damaged in this area and small tree limbs were snapped. The tornado traveled east-northeast and damaged farm outbuildings along Beaver Road and then uprooted and snapped trees along Walker Field Road and Walker Field Lane. The tornado then crossed Cattle Branch Creek causing minor tree damage. The first structural damage occurred along Laxton Lane and Fite Road where houses had some minor roof damage. The tornado began to intensify as it crossed Akins Road and approached Marshall Drive. A few power poles were broken in this area. The first EF-3 damage occurred along Myron Creek Drive where significant structural damage occurred to a couple of well-built homes. The tornado crossed Indian Creek Canal and continued to cause major damage to homes and trees along Indian Creek Road and Wright Lane. The lone fatality of the tornado occurred in this area. The tornado continued east-northeast toward Highway 51, where it damaged trees and structures along Jack Bennett and Liberty Church Smith Road. The tornado widened to over one-half mile wide as it approached and crossed Highway 51. Several homes were completely destroyed in this area and dozens of homes had significant damage. Several businesses along Highway 51 suffered heavy damage. EF-3 damage was widespread in this area. Fifty-three power poles had to be replaced along Highway 51 south of Covington. The tornado then moved across the southern section of Covington. This area is mostly industrial and several businesses suffered significant damage along Highways 59 and 384. A metal truss tower was crumpled to the ground. The tornado damaged the middle and elementary schools along Mark Walker Jr. Drive where the elementary school suffered major damage to the gymnasium and several walls. The tornado then crossed South Main Street and Highway 179 damaging several more houses. Substantial damage was caused to several houses along Highway 54. One house was completely destroyed and a couple of large metal power poles were bent to the ground. The tornado widened to almost a mile as it tracked east-northeast just north of Highway 54. This area is rural and the last major structural damage in Tipton County was on Lindsey Road where a home suffered major roof damage. The strong tornado continued tracking east-northeast taking out several large metal power poles and snapping trees between farm fields. Several irrigation pivots were overturned and twisted. In total, over 500 structures were damaged in Tipton County, 82 of which were total losses. The tornado began to weaken across northeast Tipton County as it tracked toward the Hatchie River. The tornado continued into Haywood County. Peak winds in Tipton County were estimated at 150 mph.

Wider weather episode

A regional tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon of Friday, March 31, 2023, and continued into the early morning hours of Saturday, April 1, 2023. This outbreak covered portions of the Ohio Valley, and the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valleys, including a good portion of the Mid-South and stretching into the Tennessee Valley. On Friday, March 31, a surface low was located near La Crosse, WI, with a cold front stretching south into central/southwest Missouri, western Arkansas, and into eastern Texas. Surface temperatures were mainly in the 70s to approaching 80 degrees with surface dewpoints in the lower to middle 60s, yielding Surface-Based CAPE (SBCAPE) values between 1500-2000 J/kg by Friday evening. Favorable upper-level divergence produced by the right entrance region of a 140-kt jet streak at 300 mb provided ample lift to produce strong to severe thunderstorms across the region. Directional and speed shear were impressive with 70-80 knots of Effective Bulk Shear present and 0-1 km Storm Relative Helicity values between 500-600 m2/s2, all more than enough for organized thunderstorms across the area. Discrete supercells started to develop across the Lower Mississippi Valley during the afternoon hours on March 31, 2023, eventually tracking into the Mid-South by late afternoon. The first supercell that developed in the Mid-South produced an EF-3 that caused major damage in Wynne, Arkansas. Tornadic supercells continued to produce significant tornado damage across the Mid-South into the early morning hours of April 1, 2023. The hardest hit areas besides Wynne, Arkansas included Covington, Tennessee, and McNairy County, Tennessee. Overall, 14 tornadoes occurred across the Mid-South along with several reports of wind damage and measured damaging wind speeds. Eighteen people in the Mid-South lost their lives in this outbreak.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1089395. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.