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Supercell thunderstorm spawned all seven Middle Tennessee tornadoes

Posted at 10:12 PM, Mar 11, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-11 23:12:30-04

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — All seven tornadoes that touched down on March 2 and 3 in Middle Tennessee were spawned from the same supercell thunderstorm.

We want to take you inside the path of that storm and the damage it caused all the way from Benton to Cumberland County.

The storm took shape in West Tennessee before moving into Benton County just after 11 p.m.

The EF-2 tornado started just northwest of Camden and continued across the Tennessee River into Humphreys County.

The tornado stayed on the ground for 18 miles and saw winds as strong as 125 mph that damaged several homes and mobile homes. Sadly one person died and two others were injured from this tornado.

This storm briefly spun up a second tornado in Humphreys County. This one was much weaker only an EF-0

The tornado near McEwen damaged a barn and a few trees, but thankfully no one was hurt.

This storm began to intensify again as it pushed into Davidson County just after 12:30 a.m. producing a long-track tornado that was on the ground for almost an hour and more than 60 miles - the longest a tornado on record in Middle Tennessee since records began in 1950.

The tornado began as powerful EF-2 as it moved across John C. Tune Airport, North Nashville and Germantown, then intensified further into an EF-3 as it moved into East Nashville.

EF-3 damage would also be found in Donelson, Hermitage, and Mt. Juliet in Wilson County.

This tornado at it's widest point was 800 yards nearly a half-mile wide.

This tornado killed two people in East Nashville and three others in Mt. Juliet. More than 200 people were hurt.

Even after that long track tornado dissipated in Smith County, it wouldn't take long before it produced another EF-0 tornado in Buffalo Valley, just on the edge of Putnam County.

Sadly Putnam County would see the strongest tornado of the night.

Just after 1:40 a.m., this supercell would produce a violent EF-4 tornado. The tornado started northwest of Baxter and stayed on the ground for 8 miles ending just before striking the heart of Cookeville.

In total 18 people were killed, and 88 others were hurt.

This was the worst tornado on record in Putnam County on record.

Before exiting the NewsChannel 5 viewing area, this supercell would go on to produce two more EF-0 tornadoes - one in Putnam County near Goffton, and another in Cumberland County near Rinnie.

In total 24 people were killed in these tornadoes - the deadliest outbreak since the April 27th, 2011 outbreak in East Tennessee.