TornadoLookup

Home / Tennessee / Bradley

EF1 tornado in Bradley County, Tennessee

Tornado April 27, 2011 · Bradley County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
17.0 mi
Whole path
120 yd
Path width
1
Death
$125K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Hamilton County → Bradley County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 120 yards (0.07 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

Ooltewah-to-Cleveland Tornado. An EF1 tornado continued its path to the northeast from Hamilton county almost parallel to I-75 into western Bradley County. The tornado path showed a slight right bend at near 35.140N/84.993W, then continued to the northeast into the north side of Cleveland. The 90 mph wind downed numerous trees and slightly to moderately damaged several roofs throughout its path. A 56 year old man was killed due to flying debris and trees landing on the vehicle he was driving.

The wider storm

Favorable atmospheric conditions resulted in a deadly tornado outbreak across east Tennessee on the 27th. The thunderstorms produced more than 50 tornadoes across the east Tennessee area with 32 deaths and more than 200 injured. The tornadoes produced from light to heavy damage to hundreds of homes and businesses. Hail as large as baseballs was also reported.

Began near Mc Donald (35.1210, -85.0210).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 300747. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.