2019 Central Tennessee-Eastern Arkansas Tornado Outbreak

This was one of the most destructive tornado outbreaks ever confirmed from Tennessee for at least 15 years. Several deadly and 9 violent tornadoes were confirmed across Central Tennessee to Eastern Arkansas, with almost 75 combined fatalities and more than 2,000 injuries in total. Six violent tornadoes tore into populated areas, and all 9 violent tornadoes, 8 EF4s and one EF5, were exceeding path length of 15 miles. However, a few notable tornadoes didn't cause any direct fatalities, but are mostly notable for either the aftermath, strength, or their path length and/or width.

On March 15th, at approximately 11:30 AM Central, a long-lived and very damaging EF2 tornado tore straight through the outskirts of Nonconnah and directly hit the Memphis Light, Gas, and Water Division just over 7 miles southeast of Memphis itself about 5 minutes before dying out just south of East Memphis, claiming no direct fatalities nor injuries despite being in a populated area, but causing significant damage to the building. This ignited a fire, as the fire killed an additional six people and about 200 injuries. Around 150 buildings were burned down by the time the fire was put out at approximately 9:00 PM, about 4 hours after the fire began. This was only one of several tornadoes that caused at least two indirect fatalities or more.

Multiple nighttime tornadoes terrorized areas within a 65-mile radius of Nashville between the night hours of March 14th and early morning hours of March 15th. At least 29 twisters, including 5 EF4s and 9 EF3s, occurred within that 14-hour period. Multiple tornadoes formed in Arkansas on March 15th, and caused significant damage to some areas in eastern Arkansas, but only 5 out 58 direct fatalities were confirmed in Arkansas overall. Some tornadoes crossed the state lines of Tennessee and Alabama, but the damage in Alabama was almost minimal.

Tornado Total
13 of the 98 confirmed tornadoes were deadly.

Notable Tornadoes [March 14th]
At least 9 notable tornadoes occurred on March 14th, and a combined total of 41 fatalities, 34 direct and 7 indirect, were claimed on March 14th alone.

Pelham, TN-Arnold AFB Tornado
This tornado formed approximately 3.5 miles southeast of the town of Pelham, and gained strength rather quickly. This picture to the right is the tornado only 3 minutes after touching down tearing through a field closing on a barn at approximated ground speeds of 35mph, and intensifying sharply. The tornado hit the CDP of Pelham at 8:03 AM and left around 250 out of 425 or so residents without homes, and the entire census-designated area without power. One fatality and approximately fifty injuries were claimed from the tornado in Pelham. The tornado kept tracking through open fields, and then hit the Arnold AFB at approximately 8:23 AM CDT.