EF1 Tornado — Clay, Tennessee

2023-12-09 · near Clementsville, Clay, Tennessee

Event narrative

A brief EF-1 tornado touched down just south of the Kentucky border in Clay County where it blew down a few trees on Barber Shop Road. The tornado intensified to an EF-1 as it moved northeast into Kentucky.

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 → (36.6169, -85.7230)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1144557. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.