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EF1 tornado in Dekalb County, Tennessee

Tornado February 29, 2012 · Dekalb County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
17.0 mi
Whole path
300 yd
Path width
1
Death
$710K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

An EF1 tornado with maximum wind speeds around 95 mph touched down about 1 mile northwest of Smithville along Highway 83, then tracked rapidly east-northeast across Center Hill Lake before ending in western White County about 7 miles northwest of Sparta. A barn was damaged near the beginning of the path, with sheet metal blown across fields and into power lines. Scattered trees were snapped or uprooted and some minor damage to homes occurred on the north side of Smithville as the tornado traveled generally along and just south of Highway 83 and Smithville Highway. A small warehouse-type building was destroyed at Smithville Highway and Pine Grove Road with debris thrown northward into fields. The roof of a barn was blown off and a few homes suffered minor roof damage at Holiday Haven Road and Scott Acres Road. The tornado increased in intensity as it moved along Alpine Drive, with hundreds of trees snapped or uprooted. One home on stilts was knocked down a hillside and destroyed, resulting in one fatality.

The tornado then crossed Center Hill Lake, blowing down hundreds of more trees along the south shore of the lake on Allen Ferry Road, Timber Lane, Back Bone Lane, and Falling Water Road. Several trees fell on homes in this area, resulting in minor to moderate roof damage. Passing just north of the Johnson Chapel Recreation Area, the tornado then continued eastward into White County.

The wider storm

A strong storm system moving across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys caused scattered strong to severe thunderstorms to develop across eastern portions of Middle Tennessee during the afternoon hours. Two supercell thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes resulting in a total of 3 fatalities and 7 injuries. Numerous other reports of wind damage and large hail were received.

Began near Smithville (35.9724, -85.8529).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 362592. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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