Alert archive / Tennessee / Tornado Watches in 2025

Tornado Watch 48

March 15, 202514 counties in Georgia; Cherokee County, North Carolina; 18 counties in Tennessee

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Mar 15, 2025, 5:58 PM EDT for 14 counties in Georgia; Cherokee County, North Carolina; 18 counties in Tennessee. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Mar 15, 2025, 5:58 PM EDT (21:58 UTC)
Expired
Mar 16, 2025, 1:00 AM EDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
65 kt
All 33 counties

Catoosa County, GA, Chattooga County, GA, Dade County, GA, Fannin County, GA, Gilmer County, GA, Gordon County, GA, Lumpkin County, GA, Murray County, GA, Pickens County, GA, Towns County, GA, Union County, GA, Walker County, GA, White County, GA, Whitfield County, GA, Cherokee County, NC, Anderson County, TN, Bledsoe County, TN, Blount County, TN, Bradley County, TN, Campbell County, TN, Hamilton County, TN, Knox County, TN, Loudon County, TN, Marion County, TN, McMinn County, TN, Meigs County, TN, Monroe County, TN, Morgan County, TN, Polk County, TN, Rhea County, TN, Roane County, TN, Scott County, TN, Sequatchie County, TN

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:57 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
40%
Ten or more severe wind reports
80%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
70%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

23 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 15, 6:10 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Sequatchie51 min
Mar 15, 6:35 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXScott25 min
Mar 15, 6:36 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBradley, Hamilton39 min
Mar 15, 6:37 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXMarion, Sequatchie53 min
Mar 15, 6:41 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXBledsoe19 min
Mar 15, 6:46 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXBradley, Hamilton, Meigs24 min
Mar 15, 6:57 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXHamilton, McMinn, Meigs, Rhea48 min
Mar 15, 7:20 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Rhea, Sequatchie55 min
Mar 15, 7:22 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXMorgan, Scott23 min
Mar 15, 7:24 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXBledsoe, Rhea, Sequatchie51 min
Mar 15, 7:30 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXLoudon, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Roane45 min
Mar 15, 7:40 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXLoudon, McMinn, Monroe, Roane33 min
Mar 15, 7:44 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXAnderson, Campbell, Morgan, Scott61 min
Mar 15, 7:53 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningMRXBledsoe, Bradley, Hamilton, Marion, Meigs, Rhea and 1 more4 hr
Mar 15, 8:02 PM EDTTornado Warning Tornado observedMRXAnderson, Knox, Loudon, Roane43 min
Mar 15, 8:31 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXAnderson, Campbell, Claiborne, Knox, Union26 min
Mar 15, 8:41 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Rhea34 min
Mar 15, 8:52 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMRXBledsoe, Hamilton, Rhea, Sequatchie38 min
Mar 15, 8:54 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningMRXAnderson, Loudon, McMinn, Meigs, Roane3 hr
Mar 15, 8:56 PM EDTTornado WarningMRXBledsoe, Hamilton, Rhea, Sequatchie34 min
Mar 15, 8:58 PM EDTTornado WarningFFCFannin, Gilmer17 min
Mar 15, 10:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCBartow, Carroll, Cobb, Coweta, Douglas, Floyd and 6 more65 min
Mar 15, 11:59 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFFCBartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Pickens31 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 217 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2025-03-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 9 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2025-03-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 686 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
9 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-389 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1906 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
686 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
792 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Mar 15, 7:21 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCatoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Murray, Walker, Whitfield114 min
Mar 14, 8:34 PM EDTTornado Watch PDSSPCBenton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer and 15 more10 hr
Mar 14, 11:20 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLake115 min
Mar 15, 12:50 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Carroll, Chester, Crockett, Decatur, Dyer and 15 more115 min
Mar 15, 3:03 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBedford, Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Giles, Hickman and 17 more87 min
Mar 15, 3:34 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCBedford, Cannon, Coffee, Franklin, Giles, Hickman and 10 more4 hr
Mar 15, 6:58 AM EDTTornado WatchSPCFayette, Hardeman, Hardin, McNairy7 hr
Mar 15, 9:04 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFayette, Hardeman, McNairy86 min
Mar 15, 10:25 AM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChester, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, McNairy, Shelby95 min
Mar 15, 1:30 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBedford, Bledsoe, Cannon, Coffee, Cumberland, Davidson and 31 more60 min
Mar 15, 1:51 PM EDTTornado WatchSPCBedford, Cannon, Cheatham, Clay, Coffee, Cumberland and 31 more8 hr
Mar 15, 3:15 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBedford, Bledsoe, Cannon, Coffee, Cumberland, Davidson and 21 more90 min
Mar 15, 4:56 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Claiborne and 29 more94 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Tennessee, 2025Tornado Watches in Georgia, 2025Tornado Watches in North Carolina, 2025Every tornado watch in 2025

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.