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EF2 tornado in Gibson County, Tennessee

Tornado May 2, 2010 · Gibson County, Tennessee

EF2
Rating
3.0 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 tornado touched down on the south side of Humboldt and several houses received roof, siding and garage door damage. One home in Humboldt received partial roof loss and garage damage while the storage shed and wooden swing set were completely destroyed. Several power poles were knocked down before a winery received tree and vine damage. Some tiles were stripped off the business home at the winery. One rural home suffered more extensive damage near the end of the track with partial roof loss, porch removal and brick veneer ripped off the northeast corner of the home. Windows were also blown out on the home with a large well built brick supported carport completely destroyed. A well built 40 foot by 40 foot wood and metal shed on the property was completely destroyed with the wood support beams snapped off one foot above the concrete slab. A tour bus nearby was lifted and turned 180 degrees. A semi trailer on the property was also flipped over. Numerous large trees along the path were either uprooted or damaged. A few smaller trees were snapped off one to two feet above the ground. Several power lines were also knocked down before the tornado lifted near Pleasant Hill Road.

The wider storm

An upper level disturbance slowly approached the Mid-South during the evening of April 30th, 2010 as a cold front became stationary to the west. This pattern remained in place through the evening hours of May 2nd, 2010. South to southwest winds pumped warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and created a very unstable atmosphere. Showers and thunderstorms developed in association with the front during the early evening hours and moved east into Eastern Arkansas shortly before midnight. Additional thunderstorms occurred in association with the upper level disturbance. Due to the unstable atmosphere, thunderstorms quickly became severe producing large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding. The severe weather evolved into an outbreak by May 1st and 2nd. Historic rainfall and flash flooding in addition to large hail and damaging winds occurred during the early morning hours of May 1st with several tornadoes occurring during the afternoon hours of May 1st to early morning hours of May 2nd.

Began near Humboldt (35.8088, -88.9066).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 237611. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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