3 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 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 15, 6:45 PM EST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...EVENING UPDATE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 745 PM EDT SAT MAY 15 2004 .DISCUSSION...CURRENT FORECAST CALLS FOR NUMEROUS SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS EARLY ON, GOING DOWN TO SCATTERED AFTER MIDNIGHT. THIS HAS VERIFIED WELL ENOUGH ACROSS THE AREA AS A WHOLE THIS EVENING, AND WE STILL HAVE TRAINING STORMS AND SCATTERED OTHERS DEVELOPING IN NORTHEAST TENNESSEE/SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND NOW ANOTHER AREA ALONG THE CENTRAL CUMBERLAND PLATEAU. STORMS HAVE BEEN BORDERLINE STRONG/SEVERE ALL EVENING AND REQUIRE CONSTANT MAINTENANCE, PLUS THOSE DEVELOPING IN UNICOI AND MOVING ACROSS THE RIDGELINE INTO CARTER ARE PRODUCING SMALL HAIL AND RAIN RATES OF 1.5 INCHES PER HOUR, FLASH FLOODING, MUD SLIDES, ETC. ALL OTHER WEATHER ELEMENTS LOOK ON TRACK. WILL NOT ISSUE EVENING FORECAST UPDATE AS MIDNIGHT WORDING WILL SUFFICE UNTIL NEXT FORECAST PACKAGE OUT. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CHATTANOOGA, TN 63 78 62 82 / 60 40 40 30 KNOXVILLE, TN 62 76 61 80 / 60 40 30 30 BRISTOL, TN 59 75 58 80 / 60 40 30 30 OAK RIDGE, TN 61 76 60 79 / 60 40 30 30 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && BB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 430 AM EDT SAT MAY 15 2004 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002-005- 006-008-161000- ANDERSON-BLEDSOE-BLOUNT SMOKY MTN-BRADLEY-CAMPBELL-CHEROKEE- CLAIBORNE-CLAY-COCKE SMOKY MTN-EAST POLK-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN-HAMILTON- HANCOCK-HAWKINS-JEFFERSON-JOHNSON-KNOX-LEE-LOUDON-MARION-MCMINN- MEIGS-MORGAN-NORTH SEVIER-NORTHWEST CARTER-NORTHWEST COCKE- NORTHWEST GREENE-NORTHWEST MONROE-NW BLOUNT-RHEA-ROANE-RUSSELL- SCOTT TN-SCOTT VA-SEQUATCHIE-SEVIER SMOKY MTN-SOUTHEAST CARTER- SOUTHEAST GREENE-SOUTHEAST MONROE-SULLIVAN-UNICOI-UNION- WASHINGTON TN-WASHINGTON VA-WEST POLK-WISE- 430 AM EDT (330 AM CDT) SAT MAY 15 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE (TODAY AND TONIGHT)... A WEAKENING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION LATE TODAY AND TONIGHT PRODUCING LIKELY CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS UP TO 40 MPH... SMALL HAIL...HEAVY RAINS...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. ANY OUTSIDE ACTIVITIES WILL NEED TO MONITOR CLOSELY THE DEVELOPMENT OF STORMS... ESPECIALLY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. HOWEVER...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY)... A WEAKENING FRONT WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY OF THE AREA SUNDAY AND MONDAY PRODUCING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. HOWEVER...AT THIS TIME NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. PLEASE STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX. DH
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:46 UTC.
3 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Rittertown Road and Greenbrier Road were both flooded and closed. One home's basement in the 1100 block of Rittertown Road was flooded. Several homes in the area, which were not near streams, had water up to their foundations.
Gap Creek Road flooded, endangering the water pumping station, which had to be temporarily shut down.
Heavy rain and water flowing from flooded streams caused mud slides and rock debris to wash across several roads in Valley Forge. County reports that 30 men worked non-stop for six days to clear debris off roadways and make them passable, again.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, May 2004
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: 5395063, 5395064, 5395065.