11 tornadoes were reported in Middle Tennessee in one of the worst tornadic outbreaks ever in November. were killed in Middle Tennessee alone.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS OHX wrote it up.
11 tornadoes were reported in Middle Tennessee in one of the worst tornadic outbreaks ever in November. 8 people...and possibly a ninth victim...were killed in Middle Tennessee alone. Damage estimate for the tornadoes in Tennessee was placed at $160 million. Primary losses were due to houses and cars. The toll on government owned infrastructure is about $6 million. The federal government is expected to reimburse the state and affected counties for 75% of the costs of responding to the disaster. The FEMA Public Assistance Program has obligated more than $3.6 million to assist local governments. These funds will be used to reimburse local governments for debris removal, the repair of public buildings and utilities, and overtime paid to police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel.More than 900 families across the state applied for storm aid. This was the worst tornado disaster since the April3-4 outbreak in 1974. The United States Small Business Administration has approved more than 9.7 million dollars in disaster loans to assist disaster victims with repairing their property or replacing lost personal items. The 20 counties that are eligible for disaster assistance to individuals, households, and businesses were: Anderson, Bedford, Bledsoe, Carroll, Coffee, Crockett, Cumberland, Fentress, Gibson, Henderson, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Morgan, Roane, Rutherford, Scott, Sumner and Tipton and Van Buren.
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 Nov 9, 10:15 PM CST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 1015 PM CST SAT NOV 9 2002 ATMOSPHERE HAS DESTABILIZED OVER WESTERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE TONIGHT, AND HAS BECOME MORE CONDUCIVE FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. ALSO, BELIEVE CONDITIONS IN NORTHWEST MIDDLE TENNESSEE WILL BECOME CONDUCIVE FOR ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. THUS, ADDED THE MENTION OF A FEW THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLY SEVERE INTO OUR MOST WESTERN ZONE SET. HAVE ALSO INTRODUCED A CHANCE FOR OVERNIGHT THUNDERSTORMS INTO THE BNA ZONE SET AS WELL. AN UPDATED HWO HAS ALSO BEEN ISSUED TO COVER THE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER IN MIDDLE TENNESSE ON SUNDAY. .BNA...NONE. 19
TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075>080-093>097-101130- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 905 PM CST SAT NOV 9 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE... LOOK FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS OVERNIGHT AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE MID STATE. AN ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM OR TWO IS ALSO POSSIBLE BEFORE MIDNIGHT, BUT LOOK FOR THE RAIN TO TAPER OFF TOWARD MORNING. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SPOTTER GROUPS IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH SUNRISE ON SUNDAY, AS NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... AS THE COLD FRONT DRAWS NEARER TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE, EXPECT AN INCREASE IN ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE, INSTABILITY, AND LOW LEVEL WIND SHEAR BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THESE THREE INGREDIENTS COMING TOGETHER WILL CREATE THE POSSIBILITY FOR SEVERE WEATHER AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ACROSS THE MID STATE, WITH THE PEAK TIME FOR SEVERE STORMS BETWEEN ABOUT 200 PM AND 800 PM. IN ADDITION, THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS PLACED ALL OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE UNDER A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER ON SUNDAY. THIS IS AN EVOLVING WEATHER SITUATION. PERSONS SHOULD STAY UPDATED ON THE LOCAL FORECAST, AND FORTHCOMING HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOKS, SHOULD CONDITIONS CHANGE. THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA LATER SUNDAY NIGHT. AFTERWARD, HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. ROSE
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
12 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
The first tornado was rated F0 (40-72 mph) and briefly touched down about 1.2 miles east of the I-24 interchange on Highway 76. Trees were trees twisted and snapped.
The husband, Dennis Tooby and his wife, Karen Tooby, were killed when their mobile home was blown off its foundation at the 3400 block of Port Royal Rd. Mr. Tooby was a Australian national and a welder. Mrs. Tooby taught first grade at Hazelwood Elementary School in Clarksville. Two mobile homes were lifted off their foundation and hurled across the road. The tornado damaged 60 homes and one public building. Most of the damages were minor.
Trees were twisted off and insulation debris from the mobile homes in Port Royal were found in this location.
One person was hospitalized due to injuries from the tornado. The other 5 people were treated and released for their injuries. 7 homes were destroyed, 15 homes had major damage and 14 had minor damage. 5 mobile homes were destroyed, 3 with major damage and 2 with minor damage. One business was destroyed and 3 other businesses were damaged. Several goats and cattle were killed. The heaviest damage was at 404 Glen Have Rd. 2 mobile homes were destroyed and blown off their foundation. 18 outbuildings, 16 barns and 2 churches were damaged.A Chrysler Cirrus LX sedan was flipped and pushed 20 feet. A Ford Ranger truck flipped and rolled 90 feet. A 6 inch by 6 inch board was hurled through the roof of a modular home. Kirby Building Services located at 124 Kirby Road in the industrial park area, sustained 50 percent damage according to the Portland Fire Dept.
Trees were blown down and uprooted.
An F2 tornado struck near Bugscuffle and caused very minor injuries. A second floor was torn off 2 late model frame houses. Several houses had roofs stripped and a couple of barns were demolished. This tornado went into Coffee county. TEMA reported 5 homes destroyed, 6 damaged, one mobile home destroyed and a TVA 500 KV tower was destroyed.
The F2 tornado blew down a tree and a light pole at 3737 Woodbury Highway at mile marker 9 on Woodbury Highway. Also, two fully loaded tracker trailer trucks were blown around on I-24 near Busy Corner or mile marker 105. One truck was in the east bound lane and the other tracker trailer truck in the west bound lane of I-24.
An F2 tornado killed 2 people and injured 24 others. The 2 people were inside their mobile home when the tornado struck. The mobile home was in the New Union Heights subdivision, off state Highway 53 north of Manchester. The boy was moved from his mobile home to the Hillcrest Baptist Church. He died in the church at 705 PM CST. A relative of the boy, a 43-year-old male, was also killed. He was impaled on the upright lid of a washing machine. 24 homes were destroyed, 51 other homes were damaged. 9 mobile homes were destroyed and 5 were damaged. 14 outbuildings also were damaged.
A tornado blew a tracker trailer truck on its side at the Crab Orchard interchange at I-40. This storm complex went on into Morgan county and spawned a tornado.
EMA reported a frame house was demolished at intersection of Highway 111 and Highway 30.
Law enforcement reported a tornado. No damage reported.
An F3 tornado struck the Lake Tansi area and the southern sections of Crossville Sunday night, killing 4 people and injuring 18. 33 homes and mobile were destroyed and 128 homes and mobile homes were damaged. There was damage to one public building. The heaviest damage was along Lantana Drive, Dunbar Road, and Pigeon Ridge Road. 5 homes were damaged on U.S. Highway 127 and just south of Three Creek Road. One well built home lost an entire roof and several walls. The couple, their 3 children, and a guest, huddled under a mattress in the hallway. 50 acres of hardwoods were twisted and tangled. 100-year-old oak trees were snapped like wheat straws.Mobile homes on the Ballyhoo Campground and modular homes in Lake Tansi were destroyed. The four fatalities occurred in mobile homes. A couple was killed at 298 Lantana Drive when their mobile home was lifted off its foundation and placed on another trailer. Edward, 80 and Mary Laffer 75 were killed. Another couple died at 4040 Lone Wolf Circle. Robert, 55 and Sandy Scarbrough , 52, were killed and their bodies were found across Lake Mohawk.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Montgomery | 2002-11-10 | 45 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Montgomery | 2002-11-10 | 49 | Female | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Coffee | 2002-11-10 | 10 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Coffee | 2002-11-10 | 43 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Cumberland | 2002-11-10 | 75 | Female | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Cumberland | 2002-11-10 | 80 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Cumberland | 2002-11-10 | 55 | Male | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
| Tornado, Cumberland | 2002-11-10 | 52 | Female | Mobile/Trailer Home | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Tennessee, 2002Warnings in Tennessee, November 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: 5322138, 5322139, 5322140, 5322141, 5322142, 5322214, 5322215, 5322213, 5322143, 5322211, 5322144, 5322212.