Name: Damaging Wind in Tennessee, May 20, 2005
Start: 2005-05-20T01:15
End: 2005-05-20T01:15
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: $30,000
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 and power lines were reported down across the county.

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 19, 9:05 PM EST, 4 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 19, 9:05 PM EST, 4 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1005 PM EDT THU MAY 19 2005

.DISCUSSION...WILL BE UPDATING ZONES SHORTLY FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 AM EDT FOR AREAS ALONG AND NORTH OF A
MORGAN TO GREENE COUNTY LINE. MCS TRACKING SE THIS EVENING WILL MOVE
INTO THE AREA THROUGH MIDNIGHT. LARGE HAIL ... DAMAGING WINDS AND
HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED. CONVECTION STILL ON TRACK FOR SOUTHERN
AREAS LATER TONIGHT. OVERNIGHT TEMPS WILL REMAIN WARM BUT WILL
EVENTUALLY COOL IN RAIN AREAS.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN             65  77  61  81 /  90  80  40  10
KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT, TN  64  77  59  78 / 100  90  40  10
OAK RIDGE, TN                       65  77  59  78 / 100  80  30  10
TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN              62  72  52  72 / 100  70  60  10

&&

.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC......NONE.
TN......NONE.
VA......NONE.

&&

SON

Hazardous weather outlook, May 19, 4:02 AM EST, 21 hours 13 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
502 AM EDT THU MAY 19 2005

NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002-005-
006-008-201000-
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-
502 AM EDT (402 AM CDT) THU MAY 19 2005

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST
VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA.

.DAY ONE (TODAY AND TONIGHT)...

A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION LATE TODAY...BRINGING
THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.  ANY STORMS
THAT DEVELOP WILL BE CAPABLE OF BECOMING SEVERE...WITH STRONG
DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...AND HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY)...

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

PLEASE STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MRX.

GH

The radar

The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 06:13 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Sevier

When: May 20, 1:15 AM EST
Where: Sevier County, Countywide
Measured: 65 kt (75 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $30,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.833, -83.533

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 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, May 2005

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: 5451028.