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EF2 tornado in Franklin County, Tennessee

Tornado November 6, 2018 · Franklin County, Tennessee

EF2
Rating
29.4 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
$825K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Franklin County → Coffee County → Grundy County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

A tornado touched down on the southern periphery of Tims Ford Lake on Awalt Drive, snapping and uprooting a few hardwood trees. It then crossed Tims Ford Lake, snapping more trees on the northeastern shore along Ridgefield Circle. Moving northeast, the tornado downed additional trees onto carports and

uprooted small hardwood trees in the Eastbrook community. The tornado continued moving northeast, skipping across U.S. Highway 41 and snapping and uprooting hardwood trees along Peabody and Decherd Estill Roads. The tornado had increased to EF-1 intensity at this point. The tornado rapidly intensified about 2 miles SE of Estill Springs as it crossed Aedc Road. The survey team found widespread damage to homes and hardwood trees in the Penile Hill and Allred Roads area. Homes here lost most if not all of their roof material, and large 3-4 foot diameter trees were snapped. The worst home damage occurred here, with walls collapsing on a well-built single family home. This was the highest rated damage along the path, topping out at 130 mph, and measuring about 500 yards wide. The tornado continued producing sporadic damage as it moved northeast, crossing Monroe Floyd Road. A well-constructed barn was stripped of its roof at this location, along with several outbuildings that were destroyed. Path width at this point was about 300 yards wide. The tornado strengthened once again as it approached Gum Creek and Knight Roads. At this location, a single-wide mobile home was rolled from its original location, heavily damaging the frame. Damage was also sustained to several homes in this area, with numerous power poles snapped. Grain silos were destroyed and debris scattered for several hundred yards at this site along the path. Damage in this location before tracking into Coffee County retained its EF-2 status, demolishing barns, rolling and destroying mobile homes, and snapping and uprooting numerous large hardwood trees and power poles. Debris was strewn several hundred yards from silos and grain bins in these locations, sustaining 120 mph winds. The tornado then crossed into Coffee County.

The wider storm

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms moved east through across all of southern middle Tennessee during the early morning hours of the 6th. A significant tornado developed in northern Franklin County producing damage in the Estill Springs/Decherd areas. There were were also a few other reports of damaging winds.

Began near Owl Hollow (35.2078, -86.2074).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 785066. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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