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EF1 tornado in Jackson County, Tennessee

Tornado April 27, 2011 · Jackson County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
3.3 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$10K
Damage as recorded
$35K
Crop damage
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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

Thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted in a narrow path from along State Highway 56 near the South Fork Road intersection northeast to State Highway 53 just south of the Clay County line. Maximum wind speeds were near 100 mph.

The wider storm

During the early morning hours on Wednesday, April 27th, twelve tornadoes occurred across Middle Tennessee. Seven of these were EF0 tornadoes and five of these were EF1 tornadoes. Numerous thunderstorm wind damage events, along with several flash flooding events, occurred across the mid state also. This severe weather outbreak was the result of a very unstable airmass across Middle Tennessee ahead of a strong frontal system, with a warm front positioned near the Tennessee/Alabama border. As this frontal system pushed across the area through the remainder of the morning through the early evening hours, several thunderstorm wind and flash flood events also occurred as additional severe thunderstorms developed.

Began near Whitleyville (36.4561, -85.7070).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 303135. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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