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EF1 tornado in Gibson County, Tennessee

Tornado April 2, 2025 · Gibson County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
9.3 mi
Whole path
350 yd
Path width
$325K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 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

A tornado touched down near the intersection of Bermuda Grass Road and Baseline Road, where multiple trees were snapped at the tops with damage to the roof of a single-family home. The tornado continued northeastward, leading to additional trees snapped near their tops and additional roof damage to some homes along Morella Road. One home along Morella Road had the siding peeled from the side, with damage to a nearby carport. Additional damage to trees and some homes was noted along Tull Road, Les Ross Road before crossing into Obion County. Peak winds were estimated to be 95 mph in Gibson County.

The wider storm

A significant multi-hazard, multi-day event occurred across the Mid-South from April 2, 2025, to April 8, 2025, producing 35 tornadoes, record flooding, and numerous reports of damaging winds and large hail. A large upper-level trough covered the Western U.S. in early April. A significant piece of energy rotated around the base of the trough and ejected into the Southern Plains and the Middle-Upper Mississippi Valley on April 2nd. A 500 mb jet maximum of 120 knots and a 300 mb jet maximum of 140 knots pushed into Iowa by late afternoon on April 2nd. Meanwhile, a 992 mb surface low moved into the Upper Mississippi Valley with a trailing cold front pushing toward the Mid-South. A secondary, weaker surface low developed over northeast Arkansas and helped to back surface winds. The warm sector across the Mid-South was potent with surface dewpoints climbing into the upper 60s and MLCAPE values climbing to 2000-3000 J/kg. Increasing upper-level divergence occurred in the entrance region of the upper jet, resulting in strong lift across the Mid-South and storm initiation in the increasingly moist and unstable airmass. Hodographs were long, strongly curved, and supportive of tornadoes. Discrete supercells intensified across the Mid-South during the evening as 0-6 km bulk shear values increased to 60-70 knots, and 0-1 km helicity values increased to 300-400 m2/s2. Fifteen tornadoes occurred from late afternoon on April 2nd through about 2 am on April 3rd, including four EF-3s. This period represented the most significant period of severe weather during the event.

The cold front stalled across the Mid-South on April 3rd while moist southwesterly flow aloft continued and anomalous precipitable water values prevailed across the region. Heavy rain fell across northern sections of the Mid-South into the morning hours of April 3rd. Rainfall amounts of 3-4 inches were common across east-central Arkansas, West Tennessee, and extreme northwest Mississippi, along with scattered instances of flash flooding. By the afternoon of April 3rd, the airmass south of the stalled front destabilized and storms strengthened thanks to a 90-knot mid-level jet maximum moving through Missouri. These storms produced wind damage, large hail, flash flooding, and a tornado east of Corinth. Heavy rain continued into the early morning hours on April 4th when the front eventually lifted north of the area, resulting in a relative lull during the day on April 4th.

Began near Cool Spgs (36.1699, -89.1130).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1254961. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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