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EF2 tornado in Washington County, Tennessee

Tornado April 27, 2011 · Washington County, Tennessee

EF2
Rating
13.6 mi
Whole path
1,000 yd
Path width
2
Deaths
70
Injuries
$8.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 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

Horse Creek Tornado. A NWS storm survey reported an EF3 tornado that initially touched in the Horse Creek area in Greene county, continued a northeast path into Washington county. The tornado had weakened to an EF2 by the time it was in Washington County with 115 mph winds, but still caused extensive damage. One 47-year-old man was killed in his home.

This tornado had a total path length in the two counties of 13.6 miles.

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 Liberty (36.1302, -82.6302).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF4 Hamilton County 20 deadEF4 Bledsoe County 4 deadEF4 Blount CountyEF4 Rhea CountyEF3 Greene County 6 deadEF2 Bradley County 4 deadEF2 Johnson County 2 deadEF2 Hamilton CountyEF2 Monroe CountyEF2 Sequatchie CountyEF2 Marion CountyEF2 Monroe CountyEF2 Washington CountyEF2 Bradley CountyEF1 Bradley County 1 deadEF1 Hamilton CountyEF1 Cocke CountyEF1 Cocke CountyEF1 Hamilton CountyEF1 Hamilton CountyEF1 Hamilton CountyEF1 Knox CountyEF1 Marion CountyEF1 McMinn CountyEF1 Monroe CountyEF1 Monroe CountyEF1 Monroe CountyEF1 Rhea CountyEF1 Sequatchie CountyEF0 Bradley Countyand 20 more

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 305738. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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