Name: Damaging Wind in Tennessee, July 7, 2002
Start: 2002-07-07T16:55
End: 2002-07-07T17:18
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: $15,000
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.

Several trees were reported down at Etowah.

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 Jul 7, 1:31 PM EST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 7, 1:31 PM EST, 3 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
231 PM EDT SUN JUL 7 2002

IN THE SHORT-TERM...A WEAK INVERTED TROUGH WILL CONTINUE TO DRIFT
WESTWARD THIS EVENING. AIRMASS CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE AS MOISTURE
POOLS ALONG THIS BOUNDARY.  LIFTED INDICES HAVE DROPPED TO -4 TO -6
OVER A GOOD DEAL OF THE REGION. AREA RADARS SHOWS ISOLATED
CONVECTION MAINLY ALONG THE SPINE OF THE APPALACHIANS.  WILL
CONTINUE WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF EARLY EVENING SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS FOR TYS AND CHA AREAS.

FOR MONDAY...INVERTED TROUGH WILL BE NORTH AND WEST OF THE FORECAST
AREA WITH DRIER AIR MOVING SOUTH AND WEST FROM THE CAROLINAS INTO
GEORGIA.  BESIDES AN ISOLATED TERRAIN DRIVEN AFTERNOON/EVENING
STORM...WILL CALL FOR DRY CONDITIONS FOR TOMORROW AND TOMORROW
NIGHT.

FOR TUESDAY...MOISTURE SEEMS A LITTLE DEEPER.  ALSO...FRONT
APPROACHES THE NORTHERN SECTIONS LATE IN THE DAY...SO WILL CALL FOR
A 20-30 POP FOR AFTERNOON AND MAINLY EVENING STORMS.

WILL TREND TEMPERATURES TOWARD THE WARMER FWC HIGHS GIVEN EXPECTED
PLENTY OF SUNSHINE AND DRY GROUND CONDITIONS.  WILL COMPROMISE ON
LOW TEMPERATURES...EXCEPT FOR TRI WHERE THE COOLER GUIDANCE LOOKS
GOOD.

FCSTID =
CHA   70  92  71  93 /  20  10  10  30
TYS   68  91  69  91 /  10  10  10  30
TRI   61  88  63  89 /   0   0  10  30
OQT   68  91  68  91 /  10  10  10  30

.MRX...
NC...NONE.
TN...NONE.
VA...NONE.

DH

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:54 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, McMinn

When: July 7, 4:55 PM EST to 5:18 PM EST
Where: McMinn County, Etowah
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: UTILITY COMPANY
Coordinates: 35.333, -84.533

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

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, July 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: 5309008.