TornadoLookup

Home / Tennessee / Cumberland

EF1 tornado in Cumberland County, Tennessee

Tornado May 20, 2025 · Cumberland County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
4.8 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
$250K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

An EF-1 tornado touched down along Vandever Road near New Era, causing timber damage and minor structural damage to homes. As the tornado moved east-northeast, more substantial timber damage was noted along with two homes that had roof removal. The tornado continued to produce timber and powerline damage along Rhea Road until it lifted near the intersection of Rhea Road and Old State Highway 28. Damages are a rough estimate.

The wider storm

Multiple rounds of thunderstorms impacted Middle Tennessee on May 20, 2025. The first round of thunderstorms was a decaying mesoscale convective system (MCS) that produced damaging winds which downed a few trees. The next round was discrete supercells which produced large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. The largest hail reported during this event was in Williamson County where hailstones of two to three inches fell. Five tornadoes were confirmed during this event with the strongest being an EF-1 tornado in Cumberland County. The final round of thunderstorms was a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) which produced additional damaging winds before all activity finally ended late in the evening.

Began near New Era (35.7875, -85.0849).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1247195. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.