EF1 Tornado — Cumberland, Tennessee

2025-05-20 · near New Era, Cumberland, Tennessee

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.7875, -85.0849)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1247195. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.