EF2 tornado in Claiborne County, Tennessee

An EF-2 tornado with a maximum wind speed of 120 mph created a damage path 2.6 miles in length and 250 yards wide across the northern part of Harrogate. Along the tornado track, 5 homes were destroyed, 7 suffered major damage, and 17 had minor damage. Also, four residents were injured in the storm.

A deepening low pressure system moved northeast from the Mid Mississippi Valley through the Great Lakes initially driving a warm front northward through the Southern Appalachian region during the afternoon. The associated cold front swept across the area late Friday night. A one hundred knot upper level jet positioned over a 50 knot low level jet resulted in a strongly sheared environment. The intense shear and moderate instability produced an atmosphere conducive to long-lived, discrete, supercell thunderstorms. A total of 9 tornadoes ranging in intensity from EF-0 to EF-3 produced widespread damage and nearly 50 injuries to East Tennessee residents in the path of the storms.