The March 2-3 2020 Downtown Nashville EF3: A breakdown

[@sully2018]

I watched this roll through five points from my porch a few miles north in Dalewood. I’d just come back from the store when the tornado warning lit up my phone. I opened radarscope and realized it was way too close for comfort. We were just north of the bear’s cage and I witnessed blue power flashes and green lightning flashes simultaneously in eerie silence. I estimated at that time that five points took a direct hit and my stomach turned. It’s truly a miracle there weren’t more fatalities as that area is packed with thousands every weekend. To know what I was watching south of me and yet to still be in the calm just before the RFD hit was the eeriest few minutes I’ve ever experienced. Thank you buddy for chronicling such a strange and underrated tornado.

[@StormsQ]

Glad you weren't in its path.

[@JDOUBLEUW]

Somebody my family knew had a terrifying experience. The parents were not at there house. There kids were left at home (luckily being older). There house was completely destroyed with all three of there cars completely crushed. They survived with no major injuries luckily. Great video!

[@StormsQ]

Glad they all made it out ok. Thanks for the kind words!

[@JDOUBLEUW]

@@StormsQ Your welcome!

[@DawnJiang-kd6me]

@@StormsQ On may 16 2025 A long lived low end ef4. Struck Houston.

[@fizzyvalkie1170]

It so uncommon for a tornado to hit a major city, yet alone a downtown, this is one crazy tornado, I can’t imagine the families that went through this

[@Burtsbeesapplepie]

I grew up in Nashville. My Grandma remembers this tornado, she is actually helping me write this comment. It was almost a year since I moved to East Tennessee, and my Grandma was in the path of this violent tornado. Luckily, It passed over her house and didn’t damage her house much, EF0 damage. “It sounded like a large train, my husband, dog and myself were positioned under our stairs. It missed us, only ripping off a few shingles, thank God it didn’t hit us.” My Grandma told me I visited Nashville about a month ago, and recovery is going well. God bless you, StormsQ.

[@Kookyxmnstr]

Your videos are all very well put together and your research is great! Good narrative skills for being so young too! Your content is good and interesting keep up the good work! Subscribed!

[@StormsQ]

Thank you!

[@nicolaswalker3279]

I live in Dickson which is about 30 miles west of Nashville. This storm was tornado warned as it approached my house but nothing really materialized but I remember after it passed going back to the couch and watching the very news channel whose video you used and I’m more knowledgeable than the average person on weather so I remember seeing the radar and seeing the video of the clouds rolling into Nashville and putting the pieces together and I remember very vividly the feeling that came over me as I looked at more grandmother and told her Nashville was about to get slammed by a tornado. At first she didn’t believe me and then a couple minutes later the first power flashes happened. I can remember the utter anxiety and horror I felt watching this unfold. It’s definitely a day I will never forget and it’s a day that still makes me hyper weather aware whenever they call for storms now in the area. Great video.

[@StormsQ]

Glad you weren't affected. Nashville definitely got slammed thats for sure. Thanks for the kind words

[@cbass04]

Awesome account man i’ve been watching for awhile and didn’t realize i wasn’t subbed shocked u dont have more bro

[@StormsQ]

I appreciate it!

[@NoChipp]

good video, also I am not completely sure if you have already done this but can you do a video on the Vilonia/mayflower tornado?

[@StormsQ]

I will probably not make a video on it. I did mention it in my tornadoes that should’ve been rated EF5 part 2 video though

[@StormChaserGabe]

I was watching the Joplin one when I got a notification about this video

[@alexmangrum90]

I was close by near five points and I witnessed the aftermath and i was very saddened seeing families going through the remains of there homes. Sadly a couple decided to leave the bar during the touchdown and lost their lives. Great content 👍

[@pjesf]

Well I missed the 5PM release but that’s not the video’s fault. Your analyses are great - keep ‘em coming 👍🏻

[@StormsQ]

Much appreciated!

[@lilblackduc7312]

Tennessee really caught it, that year. Thank you for covering the story...

[@omenhasaheadache]

i was away for college when this happened and never really fully grasped how intense it was. The Basement East was messed up pretty bad, and photos of that damage was the most commonly shown; a friend had been there for a concert just a short time before

[@D-Loccsta817Tx]

Can you do the downtown Ft Worth Texas tornado?

[@StormsQ]

Which one?

[@Landon-gq8lw]

It honestly disappoints me people talk about nashville so much because its population, yet the same night a EF4 175 MPH tornado struck the town of Cookeville TN leaving behind a devastating 8.5 mile path and killing 19. the reason why i hate it why its so undertalked about is because, i was there.

[@raine5919]

i remember that night i was in 6th grade at wwms and that evening i stayed after school for a animation club ans we hand colored background so i took like 20 of those to color the next day cause school was closed it was warm out when my mom picked me up and it felt good and it was barely cloudy so we thought nothing was gonna happen i remember waking up like maybe 1am and i heard the tv on in my parents room and i thought it was like 5am and the news was just on then my mom came to me and said "go downstairs and take pillows and blankets" then everything happened, and i remeber the hail later that night (technically morning) and then when everything was over and i remember seeing the pictures of my school and talking to my friends later that day im thankful my home wasnt destroyed like many others were but now i get very anxious whenever it storms just cause of what happened you did a good job explaining it! I think i was asleep for the 1 or 2 tornadoes before the one in mt. juliet so i didnt know those happened 👍🏼

[@ktbear21]

Another quality video!! ❤️❤️

[@StormsQ]

Thank you!!

[@ktbear21]

@@StormsQ you're welcome! ❤️

[@SuburbanStorms]

Remember hearing about this, ngl, it inspired me to start drawing again for some reason. Good Job!

[@CoffeeonKorriban]

Another great video, my guy. Cheers from Knoxville.

[@StormsQ]

Appreciate it!

[@ScrapFatherScrapSon]

This was a wild night that storm cell was headed right towards my town just north east of Nashville but once it dropped that tornado and spun out it took a hard right and just plowed through downtown

[@stewartphillips1790]

The school that is being shown isn’t in Mt. Juliet it was in the backside of my neighborhood Stanford Estates the school is Donelson Christian Academy in East Nashville. The tornado was high end EF3 when it hit us thank God it wasn’t during a school day!

[@MrTankx]

That was crazy when this tornado outbreak happened

[@StormsQ]

It definitely was

[@jillbakehorn4728]

It’s crazy that this event was on my birthday 200 miles away from me!

[@Aerothecat714]

Hello, i am from Cookeville, TN and have been here my whole life, the tornado caused alot of problems cause of the lose of life and the damage, sadly one of the deaths was a friend of mine, still miss them to this day.

[@StormsQ]

I'm extremely sorry to hear that. Sorry for your loss

[@rRevokk]

No cap, the first day at my second job I get off around 8:30 pm in the Hermitage area where the path is. Hours later in Mt. Juliet, I see this fucking beast rage past my neighborhood within a mile from my home. It was a fever dream of a night, and then Cookeville happened shortly after.

[@StormsQ]

Crazy. Glad you weren't affected

[@santa_moose_069]

always a dub when u post

[@tornadoclips2022]

Thank god it wasn’t any wider or stronger

[@StormsQ]

For sure, it definitely could’ve been much worse if it hadn’t thankfully been weaker when it was in downtown Nashville

[@samuelraytheweirdcontentgu8551]

This somewhat resembles Candlestick Park 1966 only one(I think two) tornado as a F5(and potentially a f2 that was a recycle to the f5) was spawned this event really had one or two cells with this one producing many tornadoes including ef2+

[@StormsQ]

Another one that comes to mind is the 2007 Greensburg Kansas supercell

[@samuelraytheweirdcontentgu8551]

@@StormsQ that also make sense because of how many probably stronger tornadoes spawned after the EF5 in Greensberg there was a 2 mile wide plus ef3 after the Greensburg EF5 which I feel was EF5 but did not hit enough structures or at the wrong times to warrant it and also more after that 2 mile monster including more ef3s which may even be more stronger although I am not sure and there emkay have not even been more ef3 plus twisters but I also may be wrong by that statement as well

[@samuelraytheweirdcontentgu8551]

@@StormsQ also Pilger 2014 supercell with all the ef4s and probably EF5 too in Pilger

[@StormsQ]

@@samuelraytheweirdcontentgu8551 ya. There’s many cases of cyclical supercells producing violent tornado after violent tornado. Another one that comes to mind is the Philadelphia supercell from the 4/27/2011 outbreak. It spawned several extremely violent tornado including 2 EF5’s. But 4/27/2011 was a different kind of insane

[@thatswhatleighsaid]

Great job!

[@StormsQ]

Thanks!

[@purcascade]

Feedback for you and those in comments: Please consider your tone and phrasing when discussing people who died. The people who died outside the bar weren't drunk or trying to beat the storm home or outside taking video or any other thing people try to pass judgment on. They didn't randomly choose to go outside during touchdown. They didn't know it was happening and just got off work as usual (at least one of them anyway.) It's not a judgment on them that they were killed outside a bar. They had no warning and were just trying to go home. It's a testament of how fast all this happened. We didn't know. It was just supposed to rain. I slept through it because my phone didn't go off and woke up the next morning to no power and damage down the street. This was very close to a worse case scenario for the city, and it certainly wasn't the fault of anyone who died. Then add to that COVID hitting during recovery and then the bombing on Christmas... 2020 was a very rough year for Nashville.

[@StormsQ]

Will take into consideration

[@TFM6969]

Interesting I love weather I’m going to be a meteorologist and work for the NWS

[@StormsQ]

Good luck

[@anemicroyaltywx]

I remember being worried about my aunt since she lived in Nashville during this, but she's okay at least

[@StormsQ]

Glad shes okay

[@thepilotguy9292]

I was scared i woke up by the sirens it passed 2 miles to the north of me I was very lucky.

[@SoldierVids12345]

So I was here for this it was so odd because I was awake when it happened and all I heard was thunder but i knew something was wrong

[@SoldierVids12345]

and NGl when you said no one was thinking about the weather fr no one was

[@tornadodocumentary]

Hi, this is Tuscaloosa and this will be my new channel that I will post on

[@StormsQ]

Cool

[@Cryotiic]

Well… they got hit again…

[@blubberwx9317]

Noice

[@julienrockingham54]

That's what insurance is for...they'll just rebuild.

[@StormsQ]

Not that simple. It affects people deeper than just having a damaged or destroyed home. People are scarred or traumatized. Some lose loved ones

[@KaileyB616]

Insurance doesn't replace all of their personal belongings, nor the lives of their pets or family members. Don't be ridiculous.

[@BGtheGiraffe]

First comment and like!!

[@samuelraytheweirdcontentgu8551]

Does not look like it

[@ThatMeansHesMad]

Barf. 🤢🤮