TornadoLookup

Home / Tennessee / Madison

EF3 tornado in Madison County, Tennessee

Tornado February 5, 2008 · Madison County, Tennessee

EF3
Rating
31.1 mi
Whole path
440 yd
Path width
3
Deaths
14
Injuries
$10.3M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Fayette County → Haywood County → Madison County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 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

A tornado crossed into Madison County from Haywood County, Tennessee. The tornado struck the town of Huntersville and produced EF-3 damage. One home was totally destroyed on Huntersville-Denmark Road. One person was killed inside the home. Another home was destroyed in Huntersville. One person was killed in this home as well. Numerous homes were destroyed or damaged along the path in Huntersville area. The St. John No. 2 Baptist Church was severely damaged and the church bus was flipped upside down and tossed several hundred feet. The tornado lifted northeast of Huntersville near Interstate 40. A rest area along Interstate 40 was severely damaged. Thirteen tractor-trailers and several cars were also blown off of the Interstate due to the tornado. One car was tossed 75 yards from Interstate 40 into a farm field. Along the track of this tornado over 50 structures were destroyed and over 80 more were damaged.

The wider storm

A strong low pressure system tracked from Northern Arkansas into Southern Missouri during the evening hours of February 5th, 2008. Supercells developed out ahead of the system during the late afternoon into the early evening. The storms produced tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds. As the supercells moved east during the evening, a cold front moved into West Tennessee. A squall line developed along the front and produced another round of large hail and damaging winds. The front continued to push east into the overnight hours.

Began near Leighton (35.5530, -89.0739).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 82850. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.