EF1 tornado in Crockett County, Tennessee

A brief tornado touched down just south of Mount Moriah Church Road, south of the town of Friendship during the early morning hours of April 5th. The tornado caused some minor tree damage along this road, before continuing northward along East Road. Just south of Highway 412, additional tree damage was observed. The tornado continued northward just to the east of the town of Friendship, causing a tree to be uprooted along Friendship Eaton Road. The tornado lifted shortly after. Peak winds were estimated at 95 mph.

The front eventually sagged south back into the Mid-South during the early morning hours of April 5th. Strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in heavy rain and training storms across northern sections of the Mid-South, mainly north of I-40. A bow echo developed along and just south of the slowly advancing front. This feature crossed the entire forecast area producing 13 tornadoes, including an EF-2, and wind damage. Heavy rain continued through the morning hours with flash flooding increasing across the Mid-South.

The final round of severe weather occurred during the afternoon and evening of April 5th. The slow-moving cold front combined with an increasingly unstable airmass, strong upper-level divergence, and 0-6 km bulk shear values of 50-60 knots provided the ingredients for more severe storms. A QLCS with a bookend vortex pushed into east Arkansas and West TN with a good deal of wind damage. The southern end of the line became more supercellular during the afternoon and evening and produced seven tornadoes, including an EF-2. The combination of continued abundant moisture with precipitable water values greater than 1.75 inches and strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in very heavy rainfall and considerable flash flooding across much of the Mid-South including the Memphis Metropolitan area where over 20 car rescues were performed.

The severe weather threat finally wound down by late evening on April 5th with the flash flood threat ending a few hours later. Total rainfall amounts of 10-15 inches occurred across parts of east Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, West Tennessee, and extreme northwest Mississippi during this event. This resulted in widespread river flooding for several days following the event including major flooding on the Obion River and the North Fork Forked Deer River.