Drought, Franklin
- When
- April 1, 12:00 AM CST to April 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Franklin forecast zone
- Reported by
- Other Federal Agency
- Coordinates
- 35.155, -86.092 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought conditions improved slightly, mainly during the first half of the month. Areas of D3 (extreme) drought were reduced to D2 (moderate) over all of southern middle Tennessee.
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 episode as NWS HUN wrote it up.
Drought conditions improved slightly, mainly during the first half of the month. Areas of D3 (extreme) drought were reduced to D2 (moderate) over all of southern middle Tennessee.
Several locations, mainly northwest of the Cumberland Plateau, received above normal rainfall for the month. Areawide, rainfall totals generally ranged from three to six inches, while normal is between four and five inches. The rain came to an abrupt end by mid-month and very little rain occurred during the second half of April.
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 Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 31, 7:58 PM CST, 4 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 858 PM CDT MON MAR 31 2008 .UPDATE...NO MAJOR CHANGES TO THE CURRENT FORECAST. WILL ADJUST POPS/WX THIS EVENING ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF THE AREA. && .DISCUSSION...IMPRESSIVE SQUALL LINE CONTINUES TO DRIVE ACROSS CNTRL AR/SE MO/SRN IL...IN ASSOCIATION WITH A COLD FRONT AND UPR LVL S/W TRACKING ACROSS THE CNTRL/NRN PLAINS. AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE...PRE- FRONTAL ENERGY/ELEVATED INSTABILITY ACROSS NRN MS/WRN TN HAS SPARKED A NARROW BAND OF SHOWERS/TSTMS...WHICH WILL LIKELY CLIP NW ALABAMA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE HOURS. EAST OF I-65...INFLUENCE OF COOLER/MORE STABLE WEDGE AIRMASS EXISTS...AND EXPECT THIS TO PREVAIL THROUGH MUCH OF THE NIGHT AHEAD OF APPROACHING COLD FRONT. DIFFERENTIAL HEATING HAS DIMINISHED SOMEWHAT WITH LATEST TEMPS RANGING FROM ABOUT 57F IN FT PAYNE TO 64F IN MUSCLE SHOALS. FOR THE REST OF TONIGHT...AS SFC LOW CONTINUES TO TRACK NORTHEAST FROM ERN IA/NRN IL...COLD FRONT WILL PROGRESS SOUTH AND EAST... VERY CLOSE TO A NASHVILLE /KBNA/ TO MEMPHIS /KMEM/ LINE BY 12Z/TUE. EJECTING UPR LVL ENERGY AHEAD OF THE FRONT COMBINED WITH INCREASING THETA-E ADVECTION/LOW LVL MOISTURE TRANSPORT SHOULD SUSTAIN SOME CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE WESTERN ZONES THIS EVENING. THIS ACTIVITY WILL BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED TOWARD DAYBREAK...ESPECIALLY ACROSS AREAS WEST OF I-65 AND SRN MIDDLE TN. ELEVATED INSTABILITY /MAINLY WEST OF I-65/ WILL BE ENOUGH TO MAINTAIN ISOLD TS...BUT DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING STRONG TO SEVERE OVERNIGHT. MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN AND A BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 30 MPH WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. STRONG TO SEVERE SQUALL LINE OVER AR/MO/IL WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN THROUGH THE NIGHT AS IT PUSHES INTO A MORE STABLE/WEAKER SHEAR ENVIRONMENT. BUT REMNANTS OF THIS LINE WILL CATCH UP WITH ANY PRE-FRONTAL ACTIVITY TO MAKE FOR A GENERALLY WET MORNING COMMUTE ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA TUESDAY. NADLER.83 && .PREV DISCUSSION /ISSUED AT 327 PM CDT MON/... .SHORT TERM...THROUGH WEDNESDAY... FRONT WILL CROSS THE CWFA TMRW AFTN...AND WHILE THE FORCING/MOISTURE REMAIN RELATIVELY UNIMPRESSIVE...BELIEVE ALMOST EVERYONE SHOULD SEE AT LEAST SOME MEASURABLE RAINFALL AND HAVE INCREASED POPS AGAIN. HOWEVER THIS WILL NOT MAKE MUCH OF A DENT IN THE SLOWLY-IMPROVING DROUGHT CONDITIONS. HIGHS TUESDAY ARE TOUGH TO GAGE GIVEN THE EXPECTED PREFRONTAL CONDITIONS...BUT FEEL THERE WILL BE ENOUGH WAA DESPITE THE CLOUDS/PCPN TO PUSH TEMPS INTO THE UPPER 60S. BEHIND THE FRONT...WENT WITH A BLEND FOR LOWS TMRW NIGHT SINCE THE GFS IS A BIT FASTER WITH THE FRONT AND MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH CAA. WEDNESDAY WILL BE THE QUIET DAY AS THE FRONT STALLS OUT TO THE SOUTH. WITH MOST OF THE CAA OCCURRING WELL TO THE NORTH...TEMPS SHOULD WARM NICELY INTO THE UPPER 60S. .LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY... THERE IS SOME INITIAL INCONSISTENCY WITH HOW MUCH PCPN WILL FALL AS THE FRONT QUICKLY RETREATS NWD AGAIN ON THURSDAY...BUT FEEL MOST OF THE AREA WILL REMAIN DRY UNTIL THURSDAY NIGHT AS THE FRONT GETS DRIVEN BACK SEWD ONCE AGAIN. ENS/GFSX MOS DATA SHOWS THIS PD AS HAVING THE BEST RAIN CHANCES...BUT NOT COMPLETELY SOLD ON THIS SOLN...SINCE THE FRONTAL FORCING SHOULD BE MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN WITH SOME OF THESE RECENT FROPAS. HAVE GONE WITH TAPERED NW-SE POPS THURS NIGHT...AND BROAD LIKELY POPS WITH THE FRONT ON FRIDAY. SOME PCPN WILL LINGER INTO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING BUT MOST OF THE AREA SHOULD BE CLEARED UP FOR THE WEEKEND. IN GENERAL...MED-RANGE MODELS ARE IN DECENT-ENOUGH AGREEMENT TO GO WITH THE GFS FOR MOST DETAILS. THE MODEL AGREEMENT FALLS APART HEADING INTO THE WEEKEND AND ESPECIALLY BEYOND DAY 7. HOWEVER THE SAT AFTN-MONDAY PERIOD SHOULD BE MOSTLY DRY AND SEASONABLE. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && PREV DISC...BCC EVNG UPDT...DJN
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1026 PM CDT MON MAR 31 2008 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-011000- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 1026 PM CDT MON MAR 31 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... A LINE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL APPROACH NORTHWEST ALABAMA BETWEEN 1 AND 3 AM. THOUGH THE LINE WILL GRADUALLY WEAKEN BY THE TIME IT REACHES THIS AREA...GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH FOLLOWED BY PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN AND OCCASIONAL CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED...ESPECIALLY WEST OF I-65. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO MARCH ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF NORTHERN ALABAMA AND SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE THROUGH DAYBREAK TUESDAY. MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN AND OCCASIONAL WIND GUSTS TO 30 MPH WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS IN THESE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED TUESDAY AS A COLD FRONT GRADUALLY MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. A FEW STORMS COULD BE STRONG...DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE PRIMARY THREATS WOULD BE SMALL HAIL...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND GUSTY WINDS. ANOTHER SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO CROSS THE REGION ON FRIDAY. A FEW STRONG STORMS MAY BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS SYSTEM. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. DJN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, April 2008
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: 92553, 92554, 92555.