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EF1 tornado in Hickman County, Tennessee

Tornado May 2, 2010 · Hickman County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
2.7 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$15K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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 short lived EF1 Tornado, with maximum winds of 100 MPH, touchdown in Hickman County three tenths of a mile north of the intersection of Ben Fly Road and Beech Valley Road. Path length was 2.73 miles, with a width of 50 yards. Numerous hard wood trees were uprooted and snapped.

The wider storm

A frontal boundary setup across Western and Middle Tennessee late Friday night (April 30), and remained through the weekend. A persistent southerly flow fed moisture into the area and precipitable water values rose to almost 2 inches, based on data from KOHX upper air soundings. As a series of shortwaves moved through, a band of showers and thunderstorms developed and remained nearly stationary for much of the day on Saturday, May 1st and Sunday, May 2nd, resulting in widespread record flooding across much of Middle Tennessee. Some of these thunderstorms became severe also, resulting in thunderstorm wind damage and seven confirmed tornadoes across Middle Tennessee.

Began near Cedar Grove (35.8374, -87.2672).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Hickman CountyEF2 Hickman CountyEF1 Davidson CountyEF1 Sumner CountyEF1 Perry CountyEF0 Lawrence County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 224142. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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