EF2 tornado in Robertson County, Tennessee

An EF2 tornado touched down south of Mount Zion Road east of Coopertown and moved northeastward before lifting about 4.3 miles southeast of Springfield. A few homes had minor roof damage south of Mount Zion Road and several trees were blown down. A gas station roof was partially blown off and gas pump awning damaged on Mount Zion Road at Tom Austin Highway. On the east side of the highway, an outbuilding was destroyed with debris blown 100 yards to the north into a water tower. One home and a business received roof damage on Old Highway 431, and an adjacent warehouse had an exterior door blown in and half of the roof blown off. Sheet metal from the warehouse was scattered up to 200 yards across adjacent fields. Further to the east, several trees were snapped or uprooted on New Cut Road. Major damage occurred on Stacy Springs road where a TVA high transmission tower was toppled, several homes and outbuildings suffered moderate roof damage, and dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted. Several businesses and barns also had roof damage on Highway 11. More barns and homes were damaged and numerous trees blown down on Old Greenbrier Pike and Worsham Springs Road. Winds were estimated around 120 mph.

A powerful upper level trough moved across the United States from Tuesday, January 29th into Wednesday, January 30th. This system contained unusually strong winds aloft, with wind speeds of 80 mph just 2500 feet above the surface and up to 150 mph at 20,000 feet. A record warm airmass with temperatures in the 60s and 70s spread northward ahead of the system into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys, bringing weak atmospheric instability into the region. As a powerful cold front moved eastward across Middle Tennessee during the early morning hours of January 30, the strong low level jet ahead of the front caused strong gradient winds of 40 to 65 mph at the surface, resulting in several reports of wind damage. A peak sustained south wind of 45 mph with a peak gust of 64 mph was measured by the ASOS at the Nashville International Airport around 315 AM CST in association with these intense gradient winds. A line of showers and thunderstorms known as a Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) developed along the front near the Tennessee River and raced eastward through the area between 2 AM and 6 AM, producing at least 23 tornadoes and widespread wind damage. This severe weather event resulted in 1 fatality and at least 3 injuries across the Mid State. The total of 23 tornadoes made the January 30, 2013 event the largest January tornado outbreak in Middle Tennessee history. It also made January 30, 2013 the second biggest outbreak of tornadoes for any month in Middle Tennessee history.