EF1 Tornado — Hardeman, Tennessee

2025-04-02 · near Rogers Spgs, Hardeman, Tennessee

Event narrative

In Hardeman County, the tornado moved through an inaccessible forested area south of Kennedy Road. Observed damage returned along Nubbin Ridge Road and Gentry Chapel Road, where numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. More trees were downed as the tornado crossed Highway 125 near Winwood Farms Loop and along Neely Road, where a home sustained minor roof damage and a small barn suffered a major loss of roof panels. The last damage was observed on Neely Road just south of Highway 57. Peak winds were estimated at 90-100 mph in Hardeman County.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.9950, -88.9620)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1256961. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.