EF3 Tornado — Wilson, Tennessee

2020-03-03 · near Mt Juliet, Wilson, Tennessee

Event narrative

An historic, long-track, strong EF-3 tornado began in western Davidson County then tracked eastward for over 60 miles through Wilson County into Smith County before lifting, causing 5 deaths and 220 injuries. This tornado touched down west of River Road Pike then moved eastward across Bells Bend, destroying a barn and blowing down numerous trees. The tornado strengthened significantly and widened to 0.65 miles wide as it crossed the Cumberland River into the John C. Tune Airport area, causing strong EF-2 damage to numerous planes, hangers, warehouses, and other buildings from Cockrill Bend Way to Briley Parkway. Around $200 million in damage was reported at John Tune Airport alone. Continuing eastward, the tornado caused severe damage to the Tennessee State Prison and blew down numerous high-tension transmission towers as it again crossed the Cumberland River into North Nashville, with up to EF-2 damage to farm facilities at Tennessee State University and dozens of homes between I-40 and Buchanan Street. EF-2 damage continued across the Germantown neighborhood just 1/2 mile north of downtown Nashville with several damaged and destroyed apartment complexes, homes, and businesses. The tornado intensified further as it tracked through East Nashville, with EF-3 damage to businesses and other buildings in the Five Points area and EF-2 damage to homes in the Lockeland Springs and Barclay Drive neighborhoods. Two people were killed in Five Points after leaving a bar and going outside as the tornado struck. After crossing the Cumberland River yet again, the tornado weakened as it moved northeast through the Donelson Hills and Lincoya Hills neighborhoods of Donelson, but strengthened again to a strong EF-3 in the Standford Estates area where several homes were leveled. The tornado weakened slightly but continued to cause EF-2 damage to homes and businesses as it turned southeast and passed through Hermitage into Wilson County.

Dozens of homes continued to sustain up to EF-2 damage as the tornado moved across the Chandler Road and Triple Crown Parkway neighborhoods of Mount Juliet. Turning more to the northeast, the tornado strenghtened to strong EF-3 and leveled numerous homes in the Catalpa Drive and Clearview Drive neighborhoods, with one elderly couple killed on Catalpa Drive at Dogwood Drive. Crossing Mount Juliet Road, the tornado severely damaged West Wilson Middle School and Stoner Creek Elementary School, both of which will have to be torn down and rebuilt. The tornado reached its peak intensity of high-end EF-3 and peak size of 0.9 miles wide as it moved across Golden Bear Parkway and along Eastgate Blvd, leveling several large warehouses and killing a security guard at the CEVA warehouse on Athletes Way North. Crossing Highway 109 into Lebanon, the tornado weakened to EF-2 but continued damaging dozens of homes and businesses as it moved through southern sections of the city. Further to the east, buildings on both sides of I-40 in Tuckers Crossroads received up to EF-2 damage before the tornado turned southeast and crossed into Smith County. Weakening and shrinking in size, the tornado caused EF-1 damage to numerous homes and businesses in Grant, New Middleton, and just south of Gordonsville. The tornado finally lifted east of Highway 141 and north of Judkins Lane after a continuous 60.13 miles on the ground.

Wider weather episode

From the late evening hours on March 2 into the early morning hours on March 3, supercell thunderstorms developed and spawned tornadoes across southeast Missouri, southern Kentucky, Tennessee, and central Alabama. One of these supercells formed near the Mississippi River in west Tennessee, then tracked eastward across the entire length of the state just north of the Interstate 40 corridor, spawning 10 tornadoes and dropping large hail bigger than the size of baseballs. Seven of these tornadoes touched down across Middle Tennessee, resulting in widespread damage, 307 injuries and 24 fatalities. An additional fatality and 2 more injuries occurred in Benton County in west Tennessee. These tornadoes were the worst seen in Tennessee since the devastating tornadoes of April 27, 2011 across east Tennessee, as well as the Super Tuesday tornadoes of February 5-6, 2008. Total damage estimates from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency across Middle Tennessee reached $1.6 billion.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.1767, -86.5717)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 883007. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.