3 lightning, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 Jul 30, 8:39 AM CST, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 939 AM CDT TUE JUL 30 2002 CURRENT TEMPERATURES QUICKLY APPROACHING THE CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURE THRESHOLD. WILL GO AHEAD AND UPDATE THE FORECAST AND REMOVE THE BECOMING WORDING. OHX SOUNDING COMPARISONS FROM 24 HOURS AGO INDICATE A MORE FAVORABLE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. K INDEX VALUES ARE UP TO 37 FROM 21 WHILE 700 MB TEMPS HAVE DROPPED 1C. LATEST RADAR INDICATES SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING EAST TOWARD THE NORTHWESTERN ZONES WITH THE ACTIVITY EXTENDING BACK INTO THE MO BOOTHEEL. ELSEWHERE...ONLY AN ISOLATED SHOWER IS INDICATED THUS FAR. REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST IS IN GOOD SHAPE. .BNA...NONE. 21
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A bolt of lightning struck the roof of a home. The lightning caused a hole on the roof and started a fire.
Sara Nugent, 34 and her son, Chad Nugent, 14, of Old Walton Road, were hurt when they were struck by lightning while sitting on a porch. They had to be airlifted to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga for treatment of their injuries.
Lightning struck the top of a three-story brick house on Russell Strausse Rd. This started a fire in the attic and caused some damage to the sheetrock.
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, July 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: 5308171, 5308172, 5308258.