Name: Damaging Wind in Tennessee, May 1, 2002
Start: 2002-05-01T22:00
End: 2002-05-01T22:00
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: $10,000
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.

Trees reported down east of Bristol.

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 May 1, 7:55 PM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 7:55 PM EST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
855 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

CURRENT SURFACE ANALYSIS INDICATES A WARM FRONT LOCATED ACROSS THE
OHIO VALLEY...STRETCHING SOUTHEAST ALONG EASTERN KY INTO SOUTHWEST
VA. SEVERE SUPERCELL TSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS
EASTERN KY...GENERALLY AHEAD OF THIS WARM FRONT. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF
EXTREMELY LARGE HAIL (UP TO SOFTBALL SIZE HAIL) AND DAMAGING WINDS
HAVE OCCURRED WITH THIS SUPERCELL. AIRMASS ACROSS SOUTHWEST VA AND
NORTHEAST TN REMAINS UNSTABLE...SO EXPECT THESE STORMS TO REMAIN
SEVERE FOR THE NEXT FEW HOURS AS THEY CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHEAST
TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST VA AND NORTHEAST TN AREAS.

OTHERWISE...THINK THAT THE CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND TSTORMS ACROSS
THE REST OF THE FORECAST AREA SHOULD BE CLOSER TOWARDS DAYBREAK...AS
A COLD FRONT OVER THE MS VALLEY MOVES CLOSER TO THE FORECAST AREA.
WILL UPDATE THIS EVENING TO MENTION AFTER MIDNIGHT WORDING FOR
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ZONES OF THE FORECAST AREA.

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

DMG

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 1, 9:23 PM EST, 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1023 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1015 PM    BIG STONE GAP             VA   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   WISE                           REPORTED BY
SPOTTERS

DAE

Local storm report, May 1, 9:36 PM EST, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1036 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1032 PM    BRISTOL                   VA   .88 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   CITY OF BRISTOL                REPORTED BY
SPOTTERS

DAE

Local storm report, May 1, 9:44 PM EST, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1044 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1040 PM    HILTONS                   VA   .75 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   SCOTT                          REPORTED BY SPOTTERS.

DAE

Local storm report, May 1, 9:51 PM EST, 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1051 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1045 PM    BRISTOL                   TN   .75 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   SULLIVAN                       REPORTED BY SPOTTERS.

DAE

Local storm report, May 1, 9:54 PM EST, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1054 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1054 PM    BRISTOL                   TN   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   SULLIVAN                       REPORTED BY SPOTTERS.

DAE

Local storm report, May 1, 9:56 PM EST, 4 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN, TN
1056 PM EDT WED MAY 1 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

1056 PM    BRISTOL                   TN   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/01/02   SULLIVAN                       REPORTED BY SPOTTERS.

DAE

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:59 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Sullivan

When: May 1, 10:00 PM EST
Where: Sullivan County, 5 mi E of Bristol
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 36.583, -82.100

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, May 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: 5297922.