EF0 tornado in Claiborne County, Tennessee

A tornado touched down in New Tazewell the evening of May 22nd,

2026, the first tornado for East Tennessee in 2026. The tornado first

developed along Coffey Road where several hardwood trees were damaged

and one home had minor siding damage. The tornado intensified as it

approached downtown New Tazewell. Here, several buildings sustained

significant damage with one sustaining major roof uplift and subsequent

wall collapse. Another smaller wooden structure also completely collapsed.

Other businesses in this area also sustained minor damage. Here the

tornado was at its widest point of approximately 75 yards. Several power

poles were snapped in this area as well. The tornado then wound down

quickly with only very minor roof damage noted along Highway 33 and 5th

Avenue. Although debris was found further downstream of this location

no additional damage was identified, and the debris was likely dropped by the dissipating storm.

A tornadic supercell thunderstorm that was unusually weak from a tornadic storm perspective produced a brief and weak tornado in New Tazewell. Surface warm front draped across the state provided 15 to 20 knots of 1 km shear, and a handful of weakly rotating supercells formed and moved across northeastern Tennessee. The middle cell of three produced a tornado. This was the first tornado of the year for East Tennessee.