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F2 tornado in Smith County, Tennessee

Tornado January 24, 1997 · Smith County, Tennessee

Rating

16.0 mi

Whole path

440 yd

Path width

Injuries

$1.0M

Damage as recorded

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

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

6 people were injured, none seriously, in the tornado that struck Smith county. 11 vehicles were destroyed and 7 vehicles damaged, 5 livestock killed, 22 outbuildings destroyed and one cattle trailer was destroyed. 7 houses and 7 mobile homes were destroyed and 43 buildings received some damage from the tornado. Most of the damage occurred in the Brush Creek area. Numerous trees and power lines were down in southern Smith county. Tornado path length and width are approximations.

Began near Brush Creek (36.1200, -86.0300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5589729. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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