Flash Flood, Sevier
- When
- June 21, 3:00 PM EST to 4:00 PM EST
- Where
- Sevier County, Countywide
- Coordinates
- 35.785, -83.524 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Tennessee, June 21, 1997
Golfball-sized hail and flooding reported on Ski Mountain near Gatlinburg. Trees down on Gatlinburg bypass (Highway 441).
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS MRX wrote it up.
Golfball-sized hail and flooding reported on Ski Mountain near Gatlinburg. Trees down on Gatlinburg bypass (Highway 441). Gatlinburg Fire Department reported: a few streams were out of their banks, 3/4" hail, an estimated a 54 mph wind gust, and 1.7" of rain between 3-330 pm EST. Six hikers were injured when they were struck by lightning. They were about 1400 feet above the trailhead on Laurel Falls Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. All 6 suffered scratches and cuts. All were treated at an area hospital and released.
The radar
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:57 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Illinois, June 21 to 30, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Texas, June 21 to 22, 1997
- Heat in Pennsylvania, June 21 to 26, 1997
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, June 21 to 23, 1997
- Flash Flood in Wisconsin, June 21, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Wisconsin, June 21, 1997
- Flash Flood in Wisconsin, June 21, 1997
- Flash Flood in Wisconsin, June 21, 1997
- Flooding in Texas, June 21 to 24, 1997
- Flash Flood in Wisconsin, June 21, 1997
- Dust Storm and Lightning Strike in Oregon, June 21 to 29, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, June 21, 1997
More
Every storm in Tennessee in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, June 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5603797.