Tennessee, 2002

Flash Flooding and Hail in Tennessee, May 28, 2002

May 28, 2002 · NWS MEG · 4 events in 2 counties and zones

2 hail, 2 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

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.

  • 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
$3,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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 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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 28, 2:30 PM CST, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:30 PM CST, 1 hour 23 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
330 PM CDT TUE MAY 28 2002

UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OVER S PLAINS ROTATING MOISTURE UP OVER THE
MIDSOUTH PRODUCING A GOOD CROP OF AFTERNOON TRWS. SOME PEA SIZED
HAIL REPORTED. THESE STORMS SHOULD GRADUALLY DIMINISH THIS EVENING...
BUT I THINK THERE COULD BE REDEVELOPMENT DURING THE NIGHT IF ANOTHER
VORT SPOKE SWIPES OVER US LIKE THIS MORNING. TROUGH TO BE CLOSER
TMR...SO THINK ANOTHER ROUND OF STORMS COMING WITH COVERAGE
GREATEST IN WESTERN COUNTIES.

TROUGH DIGS TO THE SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE WEEK...WHICH IS KIND OF
STRANGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. AVN/ETA SAYS ITS TO ACTUALLY WOBBLE
INTO THE GULF WHILE WE GET RIDGING OVER THE WEEKEND.

OVERALL...MORE SHOWERS AND GRADUALLY WARMER THIS PACKAGE. NOT BAD
FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR.

.MEG...NONE.

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:50 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail, 2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Shelby

When
May 28, 3:53 PM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Shelby County, Bartlett
Measured
0.75 in hail
Property damage
$500
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
35.200, -89.883

A few tree branches were knocked down by the hail.

Flash Flood, Shelby

When
May 28, 3:55 PM CST to 5:30 PM CST
Where
Shelby County, Bartlett
Property damage
$1,000
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
35.184, -89.896 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Several roads were flooded.

Hail, Shelby

When
May 28, 4:15 PM CST to 4:20 PM CST
Where
Shelby County, Raleigh
Measured
0.75 in hail
Property damage
$10
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
35.200, -89.933

Flash Flood, Obion

When
May 28, 4:30 PM CST to 5:30 PM CST
Where
Obion County, Union City
Property damage
$1,000
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.358, -89.149 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A few streets were flooded.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Tennessee in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5300298, 5300301, 5300299, 5300300.