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EF2 tornado in Cheatham County, Tennessee

Tornado December 9, 2023 · Cheatham County, Tennessee

EF2
Rating
18.4 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$2.5M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Dickson County → Cheatham County → Davidson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This tornado touched down in the Claylick community in eastern Dickson County, snapping and uprooting several trees and destroyed an outbuilding. It quickly intensified to low-end EF-2 strength as it crossed Nosegay Road and demolished a single-story manufactured home. The tornado continued to Pack Annex Road where it did minor damage to the tops of high-tension powerlines and continued to snap large trees as it moved northeast into Cheatham County. The tornado weakened and caused sporadic tree damage as it moved into Cheatham Wildlife Management Area. It strengthened once more, causing prolific tree damage and structure damage to homes along Dry Creek Road south of Ashland City. Just before leaving Cheatham County, the tornado caused minor outbuilding damage and snapped a few trees near River Road. At this point, the tornado Crossed into Davidson County and crossed the Cumberland River. On Pecan Valley Road, some structural damage was observed, but damage was consistent with a weakening tornado with maximum winds of 90 mph. The tornado lifted after crossing Old Hickory Boulevard, just north of Ashland City Highway.

The wider storm

A major tornado outbreak impacted Middle Tennessee during the afternoon and evening hours of December 9, 2023. With a surface low pressure system situated over the Great Lakes area, a cold front was oriented north-to-south from the Great Lakes southward into the southeastern United States. Ahead of this cold front, southerly flow advected plenty of moisture into Middle Tennessee as the atmosphere destabilized. Meanwhile, a potent low-level jet resulted in an abundant amount of wind shear. This helped to set the stage for organized thunderstorms with a tornado threat. Thunderstorms began to cross the Tennessee River into the mid-state during the early afternoon hours. The first tornado of the day touched down in Indian Mound in Stewart County. That same supercell spawned another, more significant, tornado in Montgomery County that impacted Clarksville. This was the strongest tornado of the event, causing EF-3 damage before it continued its path into Kentucky. In total, six tornadoes were confirmed from this event, including another long-track EF-2 tornado that impacted Davidson, Sumner, and Trousdale counties which was warned with a Tornado Emergency. Unfortunately, seven people were killed during this event.

Began near Griffintown (36.1830, -87.1530).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1144373. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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