EF2 Tornado — Montgomery, Tennessee

2018-02-24 · near St Bethlehem, Montgomery, Tennessee

Event narrative

An EF-2 tornado touched down in eastern Clarksville on Dunbar Cave Road and moved east-northeast across Interstate 24 north of Rossview Road before ending on Kirkwood Road. Several trees were blown down at the beginning of the path north of Dunbar Cave Road. Continuing northeast, several outbuildings were damaged at the Rossview High School football stadium. The tornado crossed I-24 and struck an industrial complex where three buildings were damaged and 75 cars in a parking lot sustained minor damage. The tornado intensified as it crossed Rollow Lane, blowing the roof off one home and downing numerous trees. Four duplexes lost their roofs on Holland Drive and many others were severely damaged. Dozens of homes sustained roof and exterior damage in the Farmington subdivision along Covey Rise Circle, Bainbridge Drive, Green Grove Way, and Edgewater Lane, and one home on Green Grove Way at Covey Rise Circle was shifted off its foundation and completely destroyed, causing two injuries. Another home was heavily damaged west of Gardenia Lane in an area of new homes before the tornado moved across open fields. The last damage was some uprooted trees on Kirkwood Road. Maximum winds were estimated to be 125 mph. Montgomery County Emergency Management estimated the damage from this tornado at 7 million dollars.

Wider weather episode

An intense storm system brought severe thunderstorms to northwest Middle Tennessee during the late afternoon and evening hours on February 24. One supercell thunderstorm developed along a warm front that moved northward across the area during the afternoon, spawning one tornado along the Kentucky/Tennessee border in Robertson County that then moved northeast into Kentucky. Later in the evening, a Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) moved into the area from the west, spawning three more tornadoes across Montgomery and Robertson Counties which damaged dozens of homes and businesses and caused millions of dollars in damage. The QLCS also caused wind damage in several other counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.5513, -87.2707)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 738341. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.