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EF3 tornado in Sumner County, Tennessee

Tornado February 5, 2008 · Sumner County, Tennessee

EF3
Rating
50.3 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
24
Deaths
63
Injuries
$27.8M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Sumner County → Trousdale County → Macon County → Monroe County, Kentucky → Cumberland County, Kentucky; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

The Castalian Springs Post Office was completely destroyed. There were 85 homes destroyed in Sumner County.

Also in Castalian Springs, a 180 year-old structure called Wynnewood, lost the top of its structure due to the tornado. The historic log structure served as a stagecoach stop. The structure had 3 chimneys and was 142 feet long, making it the longest log structure in Tennessee.

Officials say it would take 2 years and $6 million to restore Wynnewood. It is Sumner County's sole historic landmark.

Also, 102 trees were lost in the area by the tornado.

The 11-month-old son of Kerri Stowell survived the storm and was found miraculously unharmed in a field across the street from their home in Castalian Springs. Unfortunately, Kerri Stowell was killed in the tornado.

The tornado directly killed 7 people in Sumner County, and there was one indirect fatality when Mr. Lampkin, age 63, died of a heart attack while seeking shelter in his home. There were 14 people injured in Sumner County.

This tornado continued into Trousdale and Macon Counties, and also into Kentucky.

The wider storm

The Super Severe Weather Outbreak on Feb. 5, 2008 produced supercelluar thunderstorms, well in advance of a multicell line of thunderstorms. The whole episode lasted about 6 hours. This occurred ironically while many states, including Tennessee, were participating in the Super Tuesday Primary Election. Fortunately, polls had already closed in the mid state when these tornadoes struck.

Began near Castalian Spgs (36.3822, -86.3358).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

12 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 79138. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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