4 flood, 3 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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 Nashville, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 19, 2:59 AM CST, 2 hours 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 259 AM CST THU DEC 19 2002 LARGE BAND OF SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS MOVING VERY SLOWLY EASTWARD. MODELS INDICATE THAT SIGNIFICANT PRECIP WILL MOST LIKELY NOT REDEVELOP BEHIND THIS MAIN BATCH OF PRECIP. THE FORECAST PROBLEM HOWEVER STILL EXISTS IN REGARD TO THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING TODAY...PARTICULARLY ACROSS ROUGHLY THE NORTHWESTERN THIRD OF THE CWA. CURRENT THOUGHTS ARE THAT THE OVERALL NATURE OF THE SYSTEM WILL BECOME PROGRESSIVE ENOUGH SO AS TO PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OF WIDE SPREAD FLOODING. THIS DECISION IS FURTHER SUPPORTED BY THE UNLIKELIHOOD OF SUBSTANTIAL REDEVELOPMENT BEHIND THE CURRENT MAIN RAIN AREA. FOR NOW...WILL REFRAIN FROM ISSUING ANY FLOOD WATCH BUT WILL WORD ZONES TO INCLUDE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AS A POSSIBILITY. WIND SHEAR PROFILES STILL LOOKING STRONG ENOUGH FOR SOME SEVERE DEVELOPMENT TODAY IN THE FORM OF MAINLY SOME DAMAGING WINDS. WILL THEREFORE MENTION THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVER STORMS AS WELL. OTHERWISE...FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO MOVE THROUGH THIS EVENING WITH THE PRECIPITATION ENDING FROM WEST TO EAST. OTHERWISE...CATEGORICAL POPS FOR TODAY WITH PRECIPITATION LIKELY ACROSS EASTERN ZONES FOR TONIGHT. WILL WORD ZONES AS MAINLY IN THE EVENING ACROSS THE WESTERN TWO THIRDS. TEMPERATURES TO RETURN TO MORE OF A NORMAL TYPE OF DECEMBER REGIME. HOWEVER...WILL KEEP THE FORECAST DRY. AGAIN...NO FLOOD WATCHES FOR NOW BUT WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR AND POSSIBLY ISSUE A WATCH FOR NORTHWESTERN ZONES AS PER THE UPCOMING RADAR TRENDS. BNA TB 62/40/52/32/55 +600 CSV TB 57/37/45/26/50 8700 .BNA...NONE. 21
TNZ005-006-022>024-DDHHMM- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 453 AM CST THU DEC 19 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE... ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE TODAY. LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. A COLD FRONT...THAT WAS OVER EASTERN MISSOURI AND CENTRAL ARKANSAS EARLY THIS MORNING...WILL MOVE ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OVERSPREAD THE MID STATE TODAY...AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE FROM STRONG...DAMAGING... STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. A FEW ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. MOST COUNTIES IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE WILL SEE A FIVE OR SIX HOUR PERIOD OF MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN TODAY...PRODUCING ABOUT AN INCH OF RAINFALL. SOME LOCALIZED SPOTS COULD SEE GREATER AMOUNTS... WHICH WILL PRODUCE PONDING OF WATER IN LOW LYING AREAS .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SPOTTER GROUPS IS A POSSIBILITY TODAY...ESPECIALLY OVER SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE...WHERE THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BE MOST UNSTABLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... A WEAK COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH ON SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT AND CREATE AT LEAST A SMALL CHANCE FOR SHOWERS. A LOW PRESSURE AREA WILL MOVE ALONG THE GULF COAST NEXT TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND PRODUCE ANOTHER CHANCE FOR RAIN. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. 19
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood, 3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
TDOT reported creeks out of their banks. Roads were closed around Camden.
TDOT reported standing water on many roads. Creeks were running high.
TDOT reported a few roads covered with 2-3 inches of water. Creeks were running high.
18 county roads were closed due to high water.
Sheriff reported some secondary roads were flooded.
A road in Waverly was flooded. Low lying areas were flooded. Schools were let out late in the morning.
Some secondary roads were flooded.
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, December 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: 5326589, 5326590, 5326591, 5326698, 5326700, 5326697, 5326699.