April 6–8, 2006 Tornado Outbreak

Tornado outbreak of April 6–8, 2006

Rain-obscured shot of the F3 tornado in Gallatin, Tennessee that killed seven people.
Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	April 6–8, 2006
Tornadoes confirmed	73 confirmed
Max rating1	F3 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak2	2 days, 2 hours, 6 minutes
Damage	$650 million
Casualties	10 fatalities, 157 injuries
Areas affected	Central and Southern United States
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado

¹Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The tornado outbreak of April 6–8, 2006, was a major tornado outbreak in the central and parts of the southern United States that began on April 6, 2006, in the Great Plains and continued until April 8 in South Carolina, with most of the activity on April 7. The hardest-hit area was Middle Tennessee where several strong tornadoes devastated entire neighborhoods and left ten people dead. The worst damage took place in Gallatin, Tennessee. Other communities north of Nashville were also hard hit.

There were 73 tornadoes confirmed across 13 states, with the bulk of them coming on the afternoon and evening of April 7 across the South, particularly in Tennessee. In total, 10 deaths were reported as a result of the tornadoes, and over $650 million in damage was reported, of which over $630 million was in Middle Tennessee. It was the third major outbreak of 2006, occurring just days after another major outbreak on April 2. It was also considered to be the worst disaster event in Middle Tennessee since the Nashville Tornadoes of 1998 on April 16, 1998.

The outbreak took place as a result of a powerful low pressure system over the Midwest that produced a powerful cold front that tracked eastward across the South, which combined with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico to allow severe thunderstorms to form, particularly on April 7.

The Storm Prediction Center issued a high risk for severe weather for both April 6 and 7 in the areas likely to be affected. Conditions were favorable for an extremely strong tornado outbreak on both days.

Activity was not as great as expected on April 6, with only 13 tornadoes confirmed, mostly in Kansas. Several of the tornadoes were damaging, but no fatalities and only a few injuries were reported. The reason for the relatively modest activity was due to the more stable than expected air mass that day over the region, with lower dewpoints and less wind shear despite the absence of a cap which would have otherwise allowed a massive outbreak.,