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EF1 tornado in Obion County, Tennessee

Tornado May 4, 2021 · Obion County, Tennessee

EF1

Rating

2.6 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

$225K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

Tornado damaged a 500-foot tower and antennas west of Union City. The tornado downed numerous trees, several of which fell on houses. Peak winds were estimated at 100 mph.

The wider storm

A moist and unstable airmass in place across the Mid-South helped to fuel severe storms ahead of an advancing cold front and deep upper-level trough swinging into the Central Plains. A line of severe storms moved from Arkansas across northern parts of the Mid-South during the early morning hours of May 4th. There was widespread wind damage and a few weak tornadoes.

Began near Wyly (36.4123, -89.1602).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF0 Benton County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 963110. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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