April 23-24, 1878 High Wind Event

Overview

SHAMBURGER (2022) - Descriptions of the event of April 23-24, 1878 suggest this was a long duration period of showers and thunderstorms during the day on April 23, with precipitation tapering off during the evening. Then, a high wind event of severe southeast winds occurred for several hours in the late evening hours of April 23 into the early morning hours of April 24. These southeast winds caused major and widespread wind damage, with hundreds of trees blown down and homes and businesses damaged and destroyed, which suggests winds likely in the 60 to 80 mph range. Historical weather maps for April 23-24, 1878 show an intense trough of low pressure across the Midwest into west and Middle Tennessee, with the surface pressure falling at least 10 millibars at Nashville between 435 pm on April 23 and 100 am on April 24, and a 10 mb pressure gradient between the observation at Nashville and Knoxville. This trough likely resulted in the severe southeast winds, although it's also possible this was a wake low event on the backside of a large area of precipitation. Some of the damage, as mentioned below in DeKalb County near Liberty, also appears to be due to flash flooding. It's unclear but unlikely any damage on this day was actually from severe thunderstorm winds or tornadoes, despite newspapers describing the event as tornadoes. Other major damage occurred in Davidson, Wilson, Williamson, Maury, Giles, and Bedford Counties, and certainly other counties as well.

Surface Weather Maps

April 23, 1878 4:35 P.M. Weather Map

April 24, 1878 1:00 AM Weather Map

Bedford/Maury/Williamson Counties

NEW YORK, April 25. -- Special Western dispatches state that the Cumberland river at Nashville rose ten feet in twenty-four hours and was still rising last night. The tornado damaged many houses and gardens in that city. Along the railroad line between Nashville and Chattanooga the damage is very great. The station at Bell Buckle was blown down, the Baptist church moved several feet, and the interior of the Methodist church injured. Nearly all the trees and fences between Bell Buckle and Wartrace were levelled. Several houses in Wartrace were destroyed. At Columbia, the round-house was unroofed; no lives were lost; many narrow escapes are reported. Much alarm is manifested in regard to the wheat crop, as the heavy rains will doubtless cause rust. ... The tower of the city hall at Franklin was torn off. The roof of the Cumberland Presbyterian church in that place was swept down. The storm was so violent there that the people took refuge in their cellars. At Shelbyville Court-house a roof was blown 100 yards. At Wartrace a Methodist and a Baptist church were crushed and destroyed. ... The tornado was a mile and a half wide in Tennessee....

DeKalb County

FROM THE NASHVILLE DAILY AMERICAN, APRIL 27 1878: "Smithville. Destructive Work of the Tornado in DeKalb County. Smithville Journal, yesterday The entire day, Tuesday, was windy and threatening. At 4:30 P.M. the rain began falling in torrents and continued at intervals until late at night. The wind gradually increased in violence until, at 11:30, it blew a hurricane, for some minutes. There was then a partial cessation in the violence of the storm, until near 2 A.M., when the fury of the wind was unprecedented in the history of Smithville. The storm had aroused all our citizens, and after it had partly subsided, lights could be seen in every direction. As the day began to dawn, the destruction of property became manifest in prostrate or badly damaged houses and fences; shade and fruit trees, in every direction, lying flat on the ground, completely upturned by the roots, and scarcely one left that was not seriously damaged, either by breakage in its branches or its almost reclining position. The barns and stables of J.B. Atwell, Esq., O.B. Staley and the editor of the Journal, as well as the kitchen of O.B. Staley were rendered complete wrecks, while many other houses and dwellings sustained more or less injury. Almost all the trees of any size in the town were blown completely down. Mr. John Liles' new blacksmith shop, near the stream mill, was crushed to atoms by a large oak falling on and completely ruining almost every blank and timber in it. The dwelling of Uncle Lewis Liles, a short distance from town, was ruined, one end, roof and all, being carried away. Scarcely a rail is left in its place, for miles around. The heavy timbered land north of town is said to be entirely ruined, all the large trees being either blown down or broken to pieces. On Holmes' creek, the roof of Mrs. Atnip's house was carried away. Everywhere orchards are entirely ruined. Not a tree is left in some that have been regarded as most valuable. The details are entirely too numerous to specify. It is estimated that it will require nearly a week to repair damages to fences alone. All small streams were fuller than known for years, and swept everything in their courses. The roads, in every direction are entirely impassable on account of the timber that has been blown across them. We are constantly hearing of the falling of trees on or near houses, the complete destruction of orchards and the complete loss of the most valuable timber, but have not heard of any loss of life, as yet. From Liberty we learn that the storm was, if possible, even more severe and destructive than here. At least one hundred large trees are across the pike, on the side of Snow's Hill, rendering communication, except by footmen, next to impossible. The elegant iron bridge across Smith Fork at Liberty was carried away and one of the pillars badly damaged. Several houses and all the shade trees are blown down. Even shrubbery was torn from the ground and carried away: "Negrotown," on the other side of the hill, beyond Liberty, is a heterogeneous mass of lumber, logs and damaged household effects, the entire town having been swept away by the fury of the storm. The pike, where there are no trees, is impassable on account of the fences that have been thrown pellmell into it. Working companies are organizing everywhere, and will, so far as possible, repair the losses in a short time."