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Hi All,

April was a very active weather month across Tennessee! Consequently, this is one of our longer monthly reports. The main weather and climate stories for April 2025 were the deadly severe weather, extreme rainfall and associated flooding, and record-setting heat that all occurred in the first week of the month. A series of weather systems set up across the central U.S. in the first week of April, with warm, moist air funneled into Tennessee from the Gulf. This pattern produced severe thunderstorms, heavy rainfall, and high temperatures from April 2nd to 6th. The series of storms began on April 2 with the NOAA Storm Prediction Center issuing a rare High-Risk alert (Risk level 5 of 5) that covered parts of West Tennessee. Rounds of severe storms began to impact the state in the afternoon and through the overnight hours into the morning of April 3. A total of 8 tornadoes impacted Tennessee from the afternoon of April 2 to the morning of April 3, with 2 EF-3 tornados, 2 EF-2 tornadoes, 3 EF-1 tornadoes, and 1 EF-0 tornado, and numerous reports of severe thunderstorm wind damage and severe hail (with a diameter or 1-inch or larger). Unfortunately, the storms on April 2-3 proved deadly with 9 reported fatalities and 20 injuries connected to the storms. Fayette, Hardeman, and McNairy counties were the hardest hit, with the EF-3 tornadoes both occurring after midnight in the early morning hours of April 3. Over the course of April 2-6 almost all of West Tennessee and northwestern portions of Middle Tennessee had rainfall that exceeded a 50-year storm (1/50 chance of exceedance in any given year). Some areas along I-40 from Memphis to Jackson, around Waverly in Humphreys County, and counties along the northwestern border with Kentucky exceeded rainfall totals for a 200-1,000-year storm, meaning there is a 1/200 to 1/1,000 chance of this much rain falling over a 4-day period in any given year. From April 2 to 7 the National Weather Service Office in Memphis issued a total of 223 warnings (96 tornado warnings, 82 severe thunderstorm warnings, and 45 flash flood warnings), which was only 29 fewer than the total number of warnings the office issued in all of 2024! As the storm systems shifted eastward on April 7, some heavy rainfall occurred in the mountains of East Tennessee. The strong southerly winds brought high temperatures to these parts of the state. Temperatures from April 1 to 7 ranged from 9°F to 17°F above normal for the week in southern Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee. Across the state from April 1-7 there were 37 daily record high temperatures set and another 23 tied daily high temperature records. There were also 70 broken and 9 tied daily records for warmest low temperatures set in the first week of April, all of these records were in Middle or East Tennessee. Check out the attached report for additional info, including maps and photos.

Andrew & Wil

Tennessee Climate Office

East Tennessee State University

Department of Geosciences

Publication Date

4-2025

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