GRUNDY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed at least one tornado hit Middle Tennessee Saturday, but there were also straight line winds that created a damage path over a mile wide in Grundy County.
According to NWS, an EF-1 tornado touched down in northwest Bedford County and traveled 4.49 miles, with estimated peak winds of 95 mph, into southwest Rutherford County between 3:22 p.m. and 3:26 p.m. on Saturday, March 15.
However, a couple hours later, a strong mesocyclone moved out of Alabama and into the southern part of Middle Tennessee — more specifically, Grundy County, where the town of Palmer sustained extensive damage from strong winds, officials said.
NWS said a team conducted an exhaustive survey of the damage near Palmer and determined it was caused by straight line winds up to 95 mph. The crew determined the damage path was over a mile wide, ruling out a tornado.
“These very strong downsloping microburst winds blew straight into Palmer causing many trees to be uprooted and snapped, along with some structural damage in the area,” the NWS survey summary said. “All trees were fell in the generally the same direction with no narrow tornado path found.”
No additional details have been released about this incident.
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This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available.
