The March 31, 2023 tornado
EF3Hardeman, McNairy, Hardin, Wayne and Lewis counties, Tennessee
An EF3 tornado on a 86.0-mile path that killed 9 and injured 23. It was one of 127 tornadoes recorded in the U.S. that day, 10 of them rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Watch how it happened Part of the outbreak of March 31, 2023: 127 tornadoes in 9 statesEF3 tornado · March 31, 2023
How it happened
Follow the tornado’s path, minute by minute.
The tornado
- Rating
- EF3
- Enhanced Fujita scale
- Path length
- 86.0 mi
- Width up to 1,400 yards
- Killed
- 9
- Along the whole path
- Injured
- 23
- Along the whole path
- Date and time
- Friday, March 31, 2023
- 10:04 PM CST
The National Weather Service account
Written by the local Weather Service office after its damage survey.
This tornado crossed from Hardeman County into McNairy County and moved east-northeast along Skipper Creek, intensifying as it moved into the Rose Creek area. A swath of significant damage was surveyed along Rose Creek Road from Talley Road to King Road. Tree damage was widespread and several homes were severely damaged. A single-wide manufactured home was destroyed on Rose Creek Road, killing all four occupants. Maximum wind speeds in this area were estimated at 125 mph. The tornado briefly weakened as it approached Highway 64 west of Selmer. Widespread tree damage and sporadic damage to structures were noted along Bud Long Road, Highway 64, and John Moore Road, with several utility poles snapped along Highway 64. A church was damaged at Highway 45 and Dowty Road. The glass in the foyer was blown out and some damage to the siding was observed. Just north of the church, a metal building was destroyed and several utility poles were snapped. More significant damage was noted along Main Street just south of Hopkins Street in the Bethel Springs area. Several homes sustained significant damage. This is the same area affected by a tornado a few hours prior with a few of these properties sustaining damage from both tornadoes. The tornado continued to the east-northeast, damaging trees and utility poles on Murray School Road and numerous homes along Bethel Purdy Road. The Community Center on Purdy Beauty Hill Road was completely destroyed and a nearby home suffered severe damage. The tornado intensified as it followed Old Stage Road. Widespread damage to trees, powerlines, and homes was observed from Dogwood Lane to Leapwood Enville Road. Several homes were completely destroyed and four fatalities occurred in this area. Additional home and tree damage was observed along Puron and Neely Sharp Roads with another area of more significant damage near Highway 22 and Winding Ridge Road where another fatality occurred. In total, nearly 200 structures were damaged in McNairy County between this tornado and the EF-2 that occurred a couple of hours earlier, 91 of which were total losses. The tornado weakened as it moved into Hardin County. Peak winds in McNairy County from this tornado were estimated at 155 mph.
The storm system that day
A regional tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon of Friday, March 31, 2023, and continued into the early morning hours of Saturday, April 1, 2023. This outbreak covered portions of the Ohio Valley, and the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valleys, including a good portion of the Mid-South and stretching into the Tennessee Valley. On Friday, March 31, a surface low was located near La Crosse, WI, with a cold front stretching south into central/southwest Missouri, western Arkansas, and into eastern Texas. Surface temperatures were mainly in the 70s to approaching 80 degrees with surface dewpoints in the lower to middle 60s, yielding Surface-Based CAPE (SBCAPE) values between 1500-2000 J/kg by Friday evening. Favorable upper-level divergence produced by the right entrance region of a 140-kt jet streak at 300 mb provided ample lift to produce strong to severe thunderstorms across the region. Directional and speed shear were impressive with 70-80 knots of Effective Bulk Shear present and 0-1 km Storm Relative Helicity values between 500-600 m2/s2, all more than enough for organized thunderstorms across the area. Discrete supercells started to develop across the Lower Mississippi Valley during the afternoon hours on March 31, 2023, eventually tracking into the Mid-South by late afternoon. The first supercell that developed in the Mid-South produced an EF-3 that caused major damage in Wynne, Arkansas. Tornadic supercells continued to produce significant tornado damage across the Mid-South into the early morning hours of April 1, 2023. The hardest hit areas besides Wynne, Arkansas included Covington, Tennessee, and McNairy County, Tennessee. Overall, 14 tornadoes occurred across the Mid-South along with several reports of wind damage and measured damaging wind speeds. Eighteen people in the Mid-South lost their lives in this outbreak.
NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
Counties on its path
Other notable tornadoes that day
- EF4, Keokuk County19.9 mi
- EF3, Jasper County6 killed
Storm Prediction Center severe weather database. Path drawn as a straight line from the recorded start to end point.