EF2 Tornado — Trousdale, Tennessee

2023-12-09 · near Templow, Trousdale, Tennessee

Event narrative

This strong EF-2 tornado touched down just to the east of I-24 on Brick Church Lane in Davidson County. There were a few trees down and shingle damage to several homes in this area. The tornado strengthened in the Madison area causing EF-2 damage with winds up to 120-125 mph. The heaviest damage was confined to two areas, off of East Campbell Road as well as Nesbitt Lane. Multiple mobile homes were destroyed on Nesbitt Lane, and this is where three fatalities occurred. Multiple single family homes and a church off of East Campbell Road were missing large sections of their roofs with some exterior walls collapsed. Several metal power poles in the area were bent as well. Nearby, an apartment complex off Palmer Avenue sustained damage. As the tornado moved further northeast, substantial damage was found to houses in a cul-de-sac on Stoney River Lane. Two buildings were toppled and several others damaged in an industrial complex off of Myatt Drive. The tornado then continued across the Cumberland River and Old Hickory Lake, coming onshore again in the immediate dam vicinity. It is this location in which the strongest winds were found, up to 130 miles per hour, due to substantial damage to a grove of hundreds of trees in which all of them were either snapped, uprooted, or missing major branches. The tornado persisted into Hendersonville, downing hundreds of trees and causing roof damage to multiple homes. It damaged many businesses along Main Street. The tornado continued northeast into Gallatin where EF-2 damage with maximum winds of 115 mph was found to a few homes in the Club at Foxland Harbor as we as the Foxland Harbor Golf and Country Club. At this point, the tornado began to weaken though EF-1 damage was found as it crossed Highway 109 and Steam Plant Road. Several trees were still found to be uprooted along with minor roof and shingle damage to a couple of homes as the tornado crossed Hartsville Pike. Scattered trees continued to be blown down along Lauderdale Lane and Homer Scott Road before the tornado crossed Highway 231 into Trousdale County. Trees continued to be blown down on Browning Branch Road and a home suffered significant roof and porch damage on Hawkins Branch Road. Trees continued to be blown down until the tornado lifted near Shephard Hollow Lane. Around 600 homes and businesses were damaged in Sumner County.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.4330, -86.2690)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1144556. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.