McMinnville might not be the safest city in Tennessee from severe weather. According to a recent report, it is No. 2.  
“I’ll take the No. 2 spot,” said Mayor Jimmy Haley. “I think that’s a pretty good recognition of the fact we are a safe haven against severe weather conditions. In looking around at what has happened in other communities, it’s even more important. We have shown that we have the support teams, trained personnel, and all the folks ready to meet severe weather conditions when they do happen. That makes us an even better place to live in my estimation.”
HomeownersInsurance.com, a consumer-based insurance marketplace, recently conducted a study to find the safest Tennessee cities from severe weather threats and McMinnville came in second after Elizabethton.
To find the safest cities, analysts used a variety of storm data points to create total score for 51 Tennessee cities with populations greater than 10,000. Analysts used the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm events database to factor in occurrences of tornadoes, hail and lightning in each area.
The total score also took into account the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System. Data sources were only available at the county level. Cities were assigned points based on the information for the county in which the city is predominately located.
McMinnville came in second on the list due to having low average occurrences of floods and lightning events.
After Elizabethton first and McMinnville second, taking the remaining top 10 spots beginning with No. 3 were Oak Ridge, Morristown, Spring City, White House, Brownsville, Dickerson, Union City, and Manchester.
Methodology used: Tornado, Lightning, Hail, and Flood scores are out of a possible 10 points where 0 is the best and 10 is the worst score.
For the tornado, lightning, hail and flood scores, HomeownersInsurance.com analysts reviewed all individual storm events identified by the NOAA Storm Events Database from 1965 to October 2014 and weighted scores as follows:
• Number of storm event occurrences (35 percent).
• Number of direct storm event related deaths (25 percent).
• Number of direct storm related incidents of property damage (25 percent).
• Number of direct storm event related injuries (15 percent).  
The full report can be viewed at https://homeownersinsurance.com/blog/tennessees-safest-cities-from-severe-weather-damage/