1 flash flood, 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 Aug 10, 12:30 PM CST, 4 hours 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED PRELIM NUMBERS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 130 PM CDT SAT AUG 10 2002 STILL SOME SHRA ON 88D OVER NERN MS/WRN TN WITH UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE. VERY LITTLE MOVEMENT TO THIS...FORTUNATELY ITS BEEN MAINLY LIGHT. WERE KIND OF IN BETWEEN (EVOLVING MEAN TROF TO THE NORTH / GULF MOISTURE TO THE SOUTH) FOR A COUPLE DAYS. TOMORROWS RAINFALL DEVELOPMENT SHOULD BE MAINLY WELL NORTH OF OUR AREA. CANT RULE OUT AN ISOLATED SHWR/TSTM BUT SHOULD NOT BE MUCH. WE WILL GET THAT SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR FROM THE SOUTH AND EAST (HOW OFTEN DO YOU HEAR THOSE WORDS?) IN HERE AND THAT SHOULD TAKE CARE OF THINGS... ESPECIALLY WITH THE GULF STILL CLOSED. MODELS DIVERGE ON MONDAY A LITTLE BIT. THE GULF SHOULD BEGIN TO OPEN UP TO US ON MONDAY...THOUGH HOW QUICKLY THE SFC DEWPOINTS RISE REMAINS TO BE SEEN. WERE STILL IN BETWEEN SYSTEMS THOUGH...SO I CANT JUSTIFY MORE THAN A SLIGHT CHANCE ATTM. EXTENDED ETA DEVELOPS A SYSTEM IN THE 60-84 HR TIMEFRAME THAT DROPS RAIN ON THE COAST...BUT EFFECTIVELY CUTS OFF THE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FLOW INLAND. GFS HAS A SIMILAR SOLUTION BUT IS MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH ITS PRECIP. THIS IS FAIRLY TYPICAL...SO WILL DISCOUNT MORE AGGRESSIVE GFS FOR NOW AND GO WITH JUST A SLIGHT CHANCE TUESDAY AS WELL. WILL WORK WITH WARMER END OF MAX TEMPS AND USE CONSENSUS ON MINS. WEST TN HAS HAD CONSISTENTLY WARMEST DAYS WITH APPARENT HIGHER LOW-LEVEL THICKNESS VALUES. SEE NO REASON WHY THIS TREND SHOULDNT CONTINUE FOR NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. IN EXTENDED...MODELS CONTINUE TO SLOW FRONTAL TIMING DOWN...IT NOW APPEARS IT WILL BE WASHING OUT AS IT APPROACHES TUE NIGHT AND WED. WILL CARRY CHC POPS BOTH PDS...HIGHEST ON WED. I THINK MY NRN COUNTIES WILL SEE SOME BRIEF EFFECTS FROM THE DRIER AIRMASS BUT SRLY WINDS SHOULD QUICKLY WIN OUT AS PATTERN GOES NEAR-ZONAL. WILL LEAVE CHC POPS IN THU FOR SRNMOST COUNTIES...BUT WE GO BACK IN BETWEEN AGAIN FRI/SAT. A FRONT ATTEMPTS TO APPROACH FROM THE NORTH AND PROBABLY DOES NOT MAKE IT...WHILE A U/L RIDGE BUILDS OVER SERN US. SO WILL LEAVE FRI/SAT DRY AT THIS TIME...POPS TOO LOW TO MENTION. PRELIM DIGITS... MEM 72/92/73/91/74/91 11-212 MKL 66/93/68/92/70/90 ?1-212 JBR 70/92/69/91/71/90 -1-212 TUP 66/92/69/91/71/91 -1-212 .MEG...NONE. JE/23
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:39 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads were flooded on the east side of town.
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, August 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: 5315394.