The Advocate and Democrat

Rain, rain go away.

I'm writing my column on Thursday when we are deluged in rain once again.

The weather is supposed to be better by today (Sunday) and nice for at least the first part of the coming week.

I hope so.

I think by now we are out of the drought and I hate to waste any more of what should be our mild, dry fall weather with rain we don't need anymore.

Heck, we even had a tornado a few days ago.

Driving back from Knoxville Oct. 9, I told Marie that we were going to have a tornado.

Of course I say that about 15 times a year and by "we" I meant somewhere in East Tennessee. And though the sun was out, I knew a tornado watch was out and a storm had gone through the Madisonville area earlier.

A couple of hours later, a small tornado actually touched down near the intestate between Sweetwater and Philadelphia.

It was only about 20 yards wide and based on the damage it did to the trees, the NWS storm surveyor estimated the winds at 70 mph.

According to National Weather Service records dating back to the 1800s, Friday's tornado was the eighth documented tornado to touch down in Monroe County.

Here is a recap of the previous seven:

The first tornado was March 5, 1899, in Madisonville. The tornado killed three people and injured 15.

On January 25, 1908, a tornado traveled six miles from near Sweetwater to Old Sweetwater, killing one person and injuring nine.

On March 19, 1933, a tornado hit again in Sweetwater, but no one was killed or injured, according to NWS records.

During the Super Outbreak when 148 tornadoes hit the United States on April 3, 1974, a tornado hit in the Madisonville area, however it produced no injuries or fatalities.

On March 7, 1975, a tornado injured three people as it traveled more than nine miles from Kincaid to Citico Beach.

On April 8, 1980, a tornado injured one person as it traveled three miles from Epperson to Coker Creek.

On Feb. 21, 1993, a tornado traveled 15 miles from Ebenezer to near Smithfield, injuring 10 people and doing lots of damage.

As you can see, even though we don't live in Kansas or even West or Middle Tennessee for that matter, Monroe County has had its share of tornadoes and they can occur any time of year and even in our higher elevations.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101

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