Cookeville: The Impossible EF4 Tornado

Just past midnight on March 3rd, 2020, the college town of Cookeville, TN was impacted by an EF4 tornado. While short-lived, 19 lives were lost and nearly 100 were injured. A number of factors culminated to make Cookeville the embodiment of everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

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#tornado #weather #stem #documentary #cookeville #tennessee

[SamSagnella]

Thank you to the JuneFirst team.

Ethan, your engineering perspective specifically, along with your dedication to providing insight into the “whys, ” really shine through in this video.

The Cookeville, TN EF4 was a contemporarily unique and horrific event, and I feel confident that I speak for many when I say:
-I learned a lot from this video
-this event highlights the complexity of forecasting significant tornadoes, which, occasionally challenges our collective wisdom
-the human impact of this event is not lost by the viewer
-you punch way above your follower count in terms of video quality


Props, bud. Keep up the great work.

[alexis_ian]

The opening feels like watching a horror movie. Tornado at night are probably the true monster in the dark!

[VexNovaYT]

A first person tornado horror movie would actually be very scary to watch

[TroutSmacker]

My mother’s house was a direct hit in the echo valley area. Very close to where the Kimberlins lived. The house was completely destroyed in the storm. My mother and her husband were sucked out of the house and into the backyard. Her husband was pinned under a freezer and she was close by under other debris. By some miracle they both survived and made a full recovery. I heard many horror stories about the fate of others in the area she lived. Very thankful she is still here. Thanks for covering the tornado, it was a tragic night for many

[aerothecat]

As someone who has lives in Cookeville my whole life, this was a very sad and tragic day, losing a friend and almost losing family is not an easy thing to deal with, but we rebuilt and stayed strong even through bad times

[tcp]

The EAS buzzer tone is _so_ conditioned into Americans' brains. The video started with it and immediately the hair on the back of my neck raised.

[volfan]

I lived in Cookeville when this happened. Being a big weather nerd I stayed up all night watching the storm coming from Nashville. I remember waking up my wife in the middle of the night because there was a clear debris ball in Cookeville. It lifted just before hitting us. The destruction was unimaginable. The craziest part is that they didn’t sound the sirens until it was too late. I was so frustrated knowing there was a tornado on the ground and no one knew.

[kaidenno]

I was a part of this tornado, my partner and I were staying with their in laws that night. Woke up to the alert of the severe thunderstorm warning. Something told me to head downstairs and check on my in laws and to bring my partner with me. Just as we got to their bedroom the news lady pointed out the hook forming and the power cut out. I got us all into the walk in closet and we heard the tornado pass right by us and hit the house three doors down. We were extremely lucky, and my friend Tyler was on the news because his house was slated save for the bathroom where his dad and Grandma rode out the storm. The way it changed the landscape was unreal, and if anything it inspired me to be more weather vigilant aside from just a curiosity.

[badledgend]

My cousin and his then-girlfriend were living in downtown Nashville when the tornado passed through. I remember getting a Snapchat from her at around 1am, and the scene was incredibly eerie. The tornado missed them by about a block or so (pretty sure it was a block), regardless i was very nervous for them during that time. Glad they made it through unscathed, she was pretty heavily involved in relief efforts afterward.

[nancythane]

I never sleep when severe weather is predicted. We have to run down the street to get to the shelter. I'm disabled, so getting a storm at night scares the hell out of me.

[austinmorphis]

I remember this tornado very vividly, I was startled awake by my family screaming at me to get up and get dressed as our neighbor had called and told us a tornado was coming. So I got dressed and turned the tv on to get a good idea of what was happening. It was around 1 in the morning, so we were all tired and it was a school night. At some point the meteorologists said the tornado would hit my city at around 1:09 am. Then all the power went off, thats when the tornado siren hit, and we ran into the safe place. A fee minutes went by and the tornado siren came back even louder, and then thats when the wind came. Ill never forget that eerie howl or those screaming sounds it made. For a time we actually thought this was it, as the house and roof was creaking and groaning. And then it died down. We hesitated to go outside, and when we did it was pitch black. And then a soundless lightning strike lit everything up, and for a brief moment you could see the damage in that flash. The whole town was practically in ruins, I got lucky as my house was ok, but the neighborhood over was gone. As was cell service, and my friends hadn't heard anything from me before the tornado hit my area. And as it turns out I was right in the path of it. We were out of school for what was supposed to be 2 weeks, then Covid hit and the school year was over. My last day of school as a senior was the day prior. And I have moved on relatively well from that night, but me and some friends won't fully forget that night of terror, and I certainly won't forget the sounds of that wind.

[tornadotrx]

Crazy how this tornado went so wrong for so many people. Amazing video as usual Ethan!

[SavvyMuhon]

Two of my friends died in this series of tornadoes in Nashville. Just clocking out of a bar downtown, got the warning when it was too late and were both hit by debris.

RIP Albree and Mike, you were two beautiful souls and Chico misses you.

[jnkelley]

I lived in Cookeville for a decade. Moved away in 2019. I have watched lots of tornado videos. But it feels different to watch a video for a place you love and recognize.

[mrslindsay]

I live in Cookeville. I was awake the entire night. I was watching News Channel 5 throughout the duration of the storm; I specifically recall starting to panic when it hit Lebanon (less than 5 miles from my aunt's farm/home). After the tornado left the Nashville area, the news channels simply stopped focusing on forecasting and instead switched to covering damage/aftermath in East Nashville. This caused many to not take the storm seriously. Unfortunately, rural areas don't get the attention that urban areas do... I live 10 miles away from the McDonald's in Baxter, TN where it landed. There are no sirens out here. There were, for all intent and purpose, no warnings and THANK YOU sir for saying that and not brushing it off. Still, NOTHING has been done about the fact that we have no tornado shelters and only a few scant sirens. I will never forget what I saw on ground zero helping to clean it up.... I won't ever forget driving in to town the next day or 2 and seeing thousands lined up to start the cleanup. God bless all those we lost and their family and friends.

[cierragabriella]

My best friends house was on McBroom chapel and her house was completely gone. I live in Baxter. My whole family lives around Thompson ridge and my brother lives between Baxter and Cookeville on 70. We were all so lucky. My friend Josh lost his dad, brother, and family friend. The devistation was something that was so hard to even compute it was just so unbelievable. Thank you to every community that came and volunteered. Cookeville Strong ❤

[reeseraines]

Cookeville resident here. My mom had just passed away 5 weeks before, and I was staying with Dad to take care of him. I was close enough to where after the warning was issued, I was only able to get him in the basement as the hail was already striking the garage door. The last thing I saw out of a window was green lightning.

RIP 19.

[rebeccagroot]

Thank you for covering this. Cookeville is the largest micropolitan area in Tennessee, but is often forgotten. This tornado was terrifying because it came so fast. Most of us have a storm plan and know where we will shelter, but it just moved in so fast over the plateau.

[TornadoTrackers]

Another excellent production. The research, storytelling, and scientific insight all came together really well in telling about the nuances of this horrible tornado event. Thank you for your hard work on this.

[zuplop]

If anyone is interested in learning/hearing more about this tornado, the Weather Brains podcast hosts an episode entirely devoted to the supercell. I found it incredibly interesting to hear them get into the nitty gritty involving the setup and warning process that night.