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EF3 tornado in Lincoln County, Tennessee

Tornado April 1, 2023 · Lincoln County, Tennessee

EF3
Rating
12.0 mi
Whole path
215 yd
Path width
1
Death
5
Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Madison County, Alabama → Lincoln County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 215 yards (0.12 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado tracked out of Madison County, Alabama into Lincoln County after crossing Borderline Road. The tornado's estimated peak wind of 160 mph was noted at the intersection of Borderline Road and Myers Road where a newly constructed, however not completed, home was destroyed with a complete collapse of walls. The degree of damage at this location was slightly lowered below expected values due an uncertainty in the status of the garage, which was facing west. The tornado paralleled Borderline Road as it continued east-northeast. Sporadic trees were uprooted and snapped south of Vanntown, crossing Hester Creek. The tornado with a peak wind speed of 143 mph destroyed several farm outbuildings housing farm equipment from Mason Road eastward onto Echols Road. The tornado was weakening at this point, and finally lifted just after it crossed John Hunter Highway (Highway 122) just south of Elora in far southeastern Lincoln County. Tin was strewn into an open field in this location, but no further tree or structural damage was noted beyond the tree line near Collins Road and Mountain Road.

The wider storm

As part of a larger regional outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes on March 31st into April 1st, a band of thunderstorms, many of them supercellular, pushed east across north Alabama and southern middle Tennessee during the early morning hours of the 1st. One of these thunderstorms produced an EF-3 tornado in northern Madison County Alabama, which tracked into far southern Lincoln County Tennessee, paralleling the state line.

Began near Lincoln (34.9910, -86.4970).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1092808. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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