Tornado outbreak of March 15, 2017

**Tornado outbreak of March 15, 2017**
 **Duration1**:
 **Maximum rated tornado2**:
 **Tornadoes caused**:
 **Total Damages**:
 **Total Fatalities**:
 **Areas Affected**:

1Time from first tornado to last tornado
2Most severe tornado damage; see wikipedia:Enhanced Fujita Scale

The **March 15, 2017 Tennessee tornado outbreak** was a small outbreak of tornadoes that occurred in Central and northern Tennessee on March 15, 2017. The outbreak resulted in over 850 million in damages. On that day, 12 tornadoes swept through Middle Tennessee—two of them touching down in Nashville city limits, causing significant damage to the downtown and East Nashville areas. Nashville became the first major city in nearly 6 years to have an EF2 or larger tornado make a direct hit in the downtown area. In addition to the tornadoes, the thunderstorms produced heavy rains which caused flash floods, large hail and high wind gusts throughout their tracks, adding more to the damages.

## **Meteorological Synopsis**

    A large mass of unstable cold air was in place for much of the Central United States following the passage of Winter Storm Stella on early March 15. The remnant low of the system was over Kentucky, and a surge of warm moist air was pulled in from the Gulf of Mexico as a result of a tilt in the surrounding air that this low had created, allowing for a dry line to form over Tennessee. This increased the likelihood for another significant weather event later in the day.

Dew points reached the mid to upper 60s across the Tennessee Valley, and as the day progressed, CAPE values reached 1600 J/kg while dry air intrusion was also on the rise increasing the threat of severe weather across the area. Activity soon developed across the Mid-Mississippi Valley extended into Kentucky, but the instability was highest around mid-Tennessee, where the worst damage would occur. All tornadoes on this day struck Tennessee, with additional severe storms as far north as the Kentucky-Ohio border and several other storms in Alabama across Walker and Cullman Counties.

## **Confirmed tornadoes**

### **Downtown Nashville**

This tornado, rated EF3, touched down near the intersection of Davidson Road and Ebenway Drive and traveled directly through downtown Nashville. After crossing the Cumberland River, it passed through East Nashville, Donelson, and The Hermitage Farm before finally lifting north of LaGuardo in extreme southwestern Wilson County. The tornado blew many windows out of office buildings. Many large buildings, including skyscrapers, were damaged. 35 total buildings in downtown Nashville were deemed structurally unsound after the tornado. The tornado hit the Nissan Stadium and caused significant damage to the eastern quadrant of the structure, as well as dumping a large amount of water down on the arena after having just crossed the Cumberland
river. Many signs were downed throughout downtown as well.

The tornado continued northeast and hit the residential section of East Nashville. Thousands of homes were damaged in East Nashville, many of which lost a good part of their roofs, with a few destroyed. Trees were uprooted and telephone poles were knocked down in this area. It then re-crossed the Cumberland River, where more trees were downed across Neeley's Bend and more homes and other buildings were damaged near Hermitage. Hundreds of trees trees were blown down at Andrew Jackson's home, The Hermitage.

The tornado moved into Wilson County, downing many trees, power lines, and signs. Hundreds of homes alongside the river suffered considerable in the area. After moving through this residential area, the tornado then continued across rural Wilson County and produced modest damage before it dissipated just northeast of the Cumberland River in extreme northern Wilson County.

This event was noted to be extremely similar to a tornado that took a similar path in 1998.