2 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 Jan 23, 3:23 AM CST, 6 hours 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 323 AM CST WED JAN 23 2002 LATEST RADAR LOOP WAS SHOWING SCTD PRECIP ACROSS NE MS/WRN TN WITH MOVEMENT TO THE NE. STORM TOTAL PRECIP AMTS INDICATED A BAND OF 1 TO 2 INCHES ACROSS NE AR AND NE MS WITH LESSER AMTS IN BETWEEN. SFC ANALYSIS SHOWED THE CDFNT EXTENDING FROM WI SWWD THRU ERN KS INTO THE TX PANHANDLE. THE WMFNT WAS SOUTH OF THE FA WHERE DPTS WERE IN THE MID 60S. TEMPS ACROSS THE FA RANGED FROM THE UPR 40S OVR NRN SXNS TO UPR 50S OVR SRN SXNS. SW FLOW ALOFT WILL CONT UNTIL THE 5H TROF SWINGS THRU THE REGION ON FRI. AT THE SFC THE CDFNT WILL PUSH EWD REACHING THE FA WED NITE AND EXITING ERN SXNS DURING THE DAY THU. THE WMFNT TO THE SOUTH WILL LIFT NWD TODAY BRINGING MID 60 DPTS INTO THE AREA. EXPECT TEMPS TO TOP OFF AROUND 70 FOR MOST PLACES. WILL CONT SCT SHRA/TSRA AS AN UPR LVL DISTURBANCE PASSES OVR THE REGION. AS THE FNT APPROACHES THE REGION TONITE...PRECIP CHCS WILL INCREASE AS PRECIP WATER VALUES REACH ALMOST 2 IN AND A WEAK SFC WAVE TRANSLATES NEWD ALONG THE FNT. WILL MENTION HEAVY RAIN AT TIMES IN THE ZNS DUE TO DEEP MOIST AND SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE FNT OVERNITE AND STRONG SWLY LLVL JET. THE FA IS OUTLOOKED WITH A SLGHT RISK FOR SVR LATER TODAY...BUT WITH SCTD PRECIP ONGOING AM NOT SURE ATMS WILL DESTABILIZE AGAIN TO SUPPORT SVR. AS THE FNT PASSES ON THUR THE LLVL JET WILL CONT TO ADVECT WARM MOIST AIR OVR THE BNDRY RESULTING IN PERIODS OF RAIN. AGAIN THE THREAT FOR PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN WILL BE MENTIONED AS THE SFC/8H FNT ARE SITUA OVR THE REGION...BUT THIS TIME THE FOCUS WILL BE NRN MS VS WRN AR/WRN TN FOR TONITE. AS THE FNT SHIFTS EWD THE RAIN WILL END EARLY THU NITE. AS FAR AS TEMPS THE HIGH FOR THUR SHUD BE IN THE MORNING AND THEN TEMPS WILL FALL THRU THE DAY AS THE FNT MOVES SEWD ACROSS THE AREA. WILL TAKE A BLEND OF FWC/MAV TEMPS. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... MEM 70/52/53/35 598 MKL 69/53/53/34 597 JBR 69/46/47/33 596 TUP 71/59/60/40 689 .MEG...NONE.
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:42 UTC.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads were under water.
One home was flooded. Numerous roads were closed due to flooding.
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, January 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: 5280156, 5280157.