EF4 tornado in McNairy County, Tennessee
Tornado December 23, 2015 · McNairy County, Tennessee
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Tate County, Mississippi → Marshall County, Mississippi → Benton County, Mississippi → Tippah County, Mississippi → Hardeman County → McNairy County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,300 yards (0.74 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
The tornado moved into McNairy County from Hardeman County and began weakening. Around 15 homes were damaged or destroyed south of Selmer. The last observed damage was near Highway 45 on the southeast edge of Selmer.
The wider storm
Strong surface low pressure tracked from the Plains into the Mississippi River Valley while a strong cold front pushed into the Mid-South on December 23, 2015. A very moist and unstable airmass moved into the area as a warm front lifted north through the region during the early morning hours. A potent upper level disturbance help to trigger thunderstorms along and in advance of the approaching cold front. The necessary ingredients were in place for storm to intensify to severe limits. There were several reports of large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding across West Tennessee during the late afternoon. A violent long track tornado moved from into parts of Hardeman and McNairy Counties from North Mississippi during the early evening.
Began near Chewalla (35.0471, -88.7866).
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 611942. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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