(MURFREESBORO) - The National Weather Service in Nashville has determined the first July tornado in recorded history touched down in Rutherford County.
Meteorologist Sam Shamburger says an EF-0 tornado touched down in Murfreesboro Monday afternoon. Maximum winds were 75 mph, with a damage path length 3.38 miles and 100 yards wide. It was only on the ground for 5-minutes, from 2:24 to 2:29pm.
The small, weak tornado impacted the MTSU campus. The main damage was large tree branches down, with some trees uprooted. Minor structural damage was noted at the stadium, including some siding material off of one of the nearby buildings and some gate and fencing damage.
This is also where the viral video of the trailer being blown around in the tornado was taken. The tornado began just east of Memorial Boulevard, continued east-southeast towards the MTSU campus, and ended east-southeast of campus on Copper Hollow Drive.
Shamburger says this is the first tornado to occur in the month of July in Rutherford County on record. Official tornado records go back to 1950, and unofficial records extend back into the 1800's.
South of the tornado track, from I-24 to downtown Murfreesboro, downburst winds up to 80 mph caused more significant damage than the tornado did. Damage consisted of many trees down or uprooted, many branches snapped off, and some structural damage, primarily due to trees or branches falling. There was some minor roof damage to a few buildings, including metal peeled up at a business and some
shingles lost on a few houses.
