1 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 27, 1:15 PM CST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 215 PM CDT SAT APR 27 2002 TODAYS FORECAST FEATURE: FRONTAL PASSAGES...FACT OR FICTION? ISLD/SCTD SHRA HAVE BEEN MOVING ACROSS THE AREA ALL DAY. HIGHEST THETA-E AIRMASS JUST TO SW OF CWFA. LLJ HAS REMAINED WEST OF AREA...AND WITH CLOUDS/RAIN...UNLESS WINDS PICK UP BEFORE ZONE ISSUANCE...PLAN TO CANCEL WIND ADVISORY AOB 4 PM. WITH HIGH THETA-E AIRMASS...AND FRONT STILL A LONG WAY OFF...WILL FORECAST LOWS AOA MODEL GUIDANCE LEVELS FOR TONIGHT. SOME AREAS... ESPECIALLY IN THE MS RIVER DELTA...MAY NOT DROP BELOW 70. MAY HAVE TO WORD NEARLY STEADY FOR A SECOND CONSECUTIVE NIGHT IN SOME ZONES. POPWISE...WILL LEAVE CHC POPS IN TONIGHT FOR SHRA/TSRA. THINK MAIN ACTION WILL BE WELL TO THE NORTH OF THE MID SOUTH THOUGH. SUNDAY IS IFFY AT BEST. ALL WE ARE LEFT WITH IS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AS UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT GOES FURTHER AWAY. STILL...THINK PROSPECTS ARE BETTER NOW THAT FRONT GETS DRAGGED THROUGH HERE LATE SUNDAY. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...EXPECT PCLDY/MCLDY SKIES...WITH RAPID POST-FRONTAL CLEARING. EXPECT MORE WARMING TOMORROW THAN TODAY... WITH BREAKS IN THE CLOUDS. AS A RESULT...INSTABILITY IS HIGHER...AND WITH FRONT IN AREA...CANT RULE OUT ISLD SHRA/TSRA 2ND PERIOD SOUTH OF FRONT (MAINLY SERN 2/3 OF CWFA). ASSUMING FROPA (AND I AM...NGM IS OUTLIER WITH AVN/ETA/MM5 ALL SHOWING FROPA)...SUNDAY NIGHT THRU MONDAY NIGHT SHOULD BE NICE. MODELS DIFFER ON RETURN FLOW BEGINNING...WILL COMPROMISE FOR TUES AND INCLUDE SLT CHC POPS FOR WAA PRECIP. WARM AGAIN WED/THU...THEN ANOTHER COLD FROPA AND CHC POPS SOMETIME THURSDAY (A COMPROMISE AGAIN BETWEEN MEDIUM RANGE SOLUTIONS). THINK AVN IS OVERDOING RAIN BOTH ON TUE AND THU. WILL TREND SLIGHTLY COOLER AND DRY FOR THE UPCOMING WEEKEND...WHICH WOULD BE A GOOD THING FOR NEXT WEEKENDS LOCAL EVENTS. JE/23 PRELIM DIGITS... MEM 70/86/59/79/61/83 320012 MKL 66/85/53/76/56/81 320012 JBR 67/82/52/76/57/82 310012 TUP 68/86/60/80/58/83 321112 .MEG...NONE.
The Paducah radar (KPAH), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:16 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A tree was damaged by a lightning strike. Some of the debris from the struck and damaged a car tail light.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, April 2002
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: 5293608.