Tornado in Tennessee, May 1, 2002

Name: Tornado in Tennessee, May 1, 2002
Start: 2002-05-01T22:18
End: 2002-05-01T22:18
Location: Tennessee

May 1, 2002 · NWS MRX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Tornado touched down in the Stoney Creek area overturning one trailer house and damaging several others. A number of out buildings were destroyed as well.

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: $100,000
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.

Tornado touched down in the Stoney Creek area overturning one trailer house and damaging several others. A number of out buildings were destroyed as well.

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 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 7:55 PM EST, 2 hours 23 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, 55 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, 42 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, 34 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, 27 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, 24 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, 22 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), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:16 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Carter

When: May 1, 10:18 PM EST
Where: Carter County, 1 mi SW of Unaka
Rating: F1
Path length: 0.1 mi
Path width: 50 yd
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 36.400, -82.117

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Tennessee in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Tennessee, 2002 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: 5320131.