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EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Tennessee

Tornado November 5, 2018 · Lawrence County, Tennessee

EF1
Rating
4.4 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 EF-1 tornado touched down on Bluff Road causing minor roof damage to a home and breaking several large limbs outside the home. A nearby barn was heavily damaged. It traveled to the northeast where it encountered an oversized mobile home. Indications were that the strapping on the mobile home was rusty and not tied down well, allowing it to roll over. Winds here did seem strongest, however, topping out at 90 mph. The resident of the mobile home was able to escape to safety as he received the warning a couple minutes prior to the tornado striking his home. The tornado continued northeast and when it crossed South Ball Park Road, it demolished 2 hay barns and caused minor roof damage to 2 homes. As the tornado approached the city of Loretto, it caused extensive damage to the city's sports complex behind South Lawrence Elementary. Three cinder block dugouts were destroyed, two large sections of bleachers were tossed 25 to 30 yards and there was minor roof damage to the concession stand and an outbuilding where maintenance equipment was stored. Special thanks to the South Lawrence Elementary staff for provding video evidence of the tornado as it moved through the area. As the tornado approached Hwy 43, several homes were damaged by uprooted trees and there was some minor roof damage to a large outbuilding at a wood yard on 2nd Avenue. The tornado finished up by taking down power lines on the west side of Highway 43 near Vine Street and blowing down a few trees on the east side of Highway 43 before lifting. This tornado path was adjusted and extended slightly in May 2020 due to newly available Google Earth high resolution satellite imagery.

The wider storm

A line of severe thunderstorms called a Quasi-linear Convective System (QLCS) developed across west Tennessee and moved eastward across Middle Tennessee during the late evening hours on Monday, November 5, 2018 into the early morning hours on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. This system spawned at least 10 tornadoes across Middle Tennessee that occurred in the darkness of night, including an EF-2 tornado that struck the Christiana area of Rutherford County, which unfortunately killed one woman and injured three others. Other tornadoes in this outbreak affected central Kentucky, northern and central Alabama, Mississippi and northern Louisiana. This tornado outbreak was the worst to affect Middle Tennessee since the December 23, 2015 tornado outbreak, which also occurred at night during the secondary severe weather season that occurs in the fall and early winter.

Began near St Joseph (35.0514, -87.5059).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 793961. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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