EF0 Tornado — Madison, Tennessee

2025-05-20 · near Mc Kellar Fld, Madison, Tennessee

Event narrative

A brief tornado touched down in a wooded area just south of James Lawrence Road, to the west of Smith Lane in far southwest Jackson. As the tornado moved northeast, damage to a warehouse building occurred on Smith Lane. Multiple videos showed some roof debris being lofted into the air from the warehouse. The tornado lifted as it moved onto McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport, with some of the debris from the warehouse deposited onto the airfield. Peak winds were estimated at 75 mph.

Wider weather episode

Numerous showers and thunderstorms covered Arkansas during the early morning hours on May 20, 2025. As these storms moved toward the Mid-South, the cap weakened, and one segment near the Tennessee/Mississippi border intensified and produced wind damage. These storms exited the region by mid-morning.

A brief lull in thunderstorm activity occurred from late morning until early afternoon. Gusty southwest winds aided in rapid atmospheric recovery with SBCAPE values greater than 2000 J/kg by mid-afternoon. In addition, dewpoints remained in the low 70s with bulk shear around 50 kts. Initially, storms were supercellular in nature and eventually formed into a line during the evening hours. Damaging winds and hail were common during this event, and a weak tornado occurred near Jackson, TN.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.5905, -88.9410)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1261795. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.