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EF1 tornado in Madison County, Tennessee

Tornado December 23, 2015 · Madison County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
1.2 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$25K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

This tornado occurred in Western Madison County. The tornado damaged several storage sheds and caused roof damage to a home.

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 Leighton (35.5549, -89.0729).

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 612000. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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