Name: Hail in Tennessee, April 28, 2002
Start: 2002-04-28T12:55
End: 2002-04-28T12:55
Location: Tennessee

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $5,000
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 broke many windshields and caused much damage to vehicles.

What forecasters said that day

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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 28, 8:59 AM EST, 3 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 8:59 AM EST, 3 hours 56 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
959 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

RADAR TRENDS SHOW THE STORMS ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE...PLATEAU AND
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA ARE WEAKENING AS THEY MOVE INTO MORE STABLE AIR.
HOWEVER...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS REMAIN AND WILL MOVE
ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING.  A GOOD DEAL OF CONVECTIVE DEBRIS
WILL MOVE OVER THE REGION THIS MORNING INTO POSSIBLY EARLY
AFTERNOON WHICH WILL INHIBIT DESTABILIZATION FOR A WHILE...BUT WITH
STRONG WARM AIR ADVECTION AND RETURN OF SUNSHINE LATER TODAY FEEL
AIRMASS WILL UNSTABLE.  I EXPECT LIFTED INDICES OF -5 TO -7 WITH
CAPES BETWEEN 2000-2500 J/KG.

COLD FRONT STILL WELL WEST/NORTHWEST OF THE AREA AND WILL NOT MOVE
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA UNTIL THIS EVENING. I EXPECT ANOTHER ROUND
OF THUNDERSTORMS TO FIRE OVER CENTRAL/EAST KENTUCKY TO MIDDLE
TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON WHERE AIRMASS WITH BE QUITE UNSTABLE.  THE
ACTIVITY WILL THEN MOVE EAST INTO THE CWA LATE THIS
AFTERNOON/EVENING.  SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH
THE GREATEST THREAT OVER THE NORTHERN COUNTIES WHERE LOW LEVEL
INFLOW AND DYNAMICS WILL BE BEST.

BESIDES STORM THREAT...STRONG LOW LEVEL SOUTHWEST JET OVER THE
REGION TODAY (NEAR 40 KNOTS) WILL PRODUCE WINDY CONDITIONS AREA-WIDE.
HAVE EXPANDED WIND ADVISORY TO COVER THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA.

.MRX...
NC...WIND ADVISORY FOR TODAY FOR ZONES NCZ060...061.
TN...WIND ADVISORY FOR TODAY FOR ZONES TNZ012>018...035>047...
     067>074...081>087...098>102.
VA...WIND ADVISORY FOR TODAY FOR ZONES VAZ001>002....VAZ005-006-008.

DH

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 28, 10:23 AM EST, 2 hours 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1123 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1040 AM    5 NW PIKEVILLE            TN   WIND DAMAGE
04/28/02   BLEDSOE                        TREES DOWN WEST PART OF
                                          COUNTY NEAR HIGHWAY 30.
                                          REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.

1045 AM    5 S SPRING CITY           TN   WIND DAMAGE
04/28/02   RHEA                           METAL BUILDINGS BLOWN
                                          DOWN. TREES DOWN. ONE
                                          MOBILE HOME BLOWN OFF
                                          BLOCKS. METAL SIDING BLOWN
                                          OFF BUILDINGS. REPORTED BY
                                          LAW ENFORCEMENT.

GM

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:53 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Scott

When: April 28, 12:55 PM EST
Where: Scott County, Oneida
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.500, -84.517

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Tennessee in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, April 2002

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: 5289928.