An isolated strong thunderstorm produced a weak downburst in the community of Sewanee, Tennessee.
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 HUN wrote it up.
An isolated strong thunderstorm produced a weak downburst in the community of Sewanee, Tennessee.
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 Jun 26, 11:47 AM CST, 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 1247 PM CDT THU JUN 26 2008 .UPDATE...FOR 18Z TAFS. && .AVIATION... SHRA/TSRA ARE NOW STARTING TO DEVELOP IN AREAS MAINLY TO OUR SOUTH AND EAST EARLY THIS AFTN. IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THIS TREND WILL CONTINUE WITH THE PRIMARY AREAS OF CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN ERN AND CENTRAL PORTIONS OF NORTHERN ALABAMA THIS AFTN. THUS...HAVE INTRODUCED VICINITY TSRA AT KHSV SOONER THAN KMSL. THINK THAT CONVECTION WILL DEVELOP WESTWARD THROUGH THE AFTN...AND REACH THE VICINITY OF KMSL BY 2200Z. STILL NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO PUT TSRA/SHRA IN TAFS FOR ANY TIME PERIOD...AS CONVECTION WILL BE OF A SCTRD NATURE AND RAPIDLY EVOLVING. FOR OVERNIGHT PERIOD...HAVE INCLUDED FOG WITH LOWER VIS AND IFR CONDS FOR KMSL AFTER 09Z OWING TO THEIR PROPENSITY FOR FOG DEVELOPMENT. && .DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1043 AM CDT THU JUN 26 2008/ SKY CONDITIONS CLEARED FAIRLY RAPIDLY ACROSS MOST AREAS ALREADY THIS MORNING. TEMPS HAVE RISEN TO AROUND 80 AT MOST LOCATIONS AS OF 10 AM...AND THINKING THAT HIGHS WILL EASILY GET TO THE LOW 90S...THUS NUDGED TEMPS UP SLIGHTLY. DETERMINING SPECIFICALLY WHERE CONVECTION WILL INITIATE TODAY IS RATHER DIFFICULT. LATEST THETA-E RIDGING WAS NOTED PRIMARILY OVER NWRN PORTIONS OF THE CWFA...AND POINTS FURTHER NORTH AND WEST. IN ADDITION...MLCAPE VALUES AND MOISTURE CONVERGENCE ARE SLIGHTLY HIGHER IN THOSE AREAS. HOWEVER...MODEL GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTING ERN AREAS WILL BE THE PRIMARY FOCUS FOR CONVECTIVE INITIATION. THIS WILL LIKELY BE DEPENDENT ON THE LOCATION OF UPR SHORT WAVE CURRENTLY TRAVERSING THE REGION...AND WHERE PVA IS MAXIMIZED OVER BETTER LOW-LVL INSTABILITY. CONSIDERING A LARGER SCALE COMPROMISE OF THE LOW-LVL THERMODYNAMICS AND UPR LVL THERMODYNAMIC/DYNAMIC SITUATION...THINK PERHAPS THAT INITIATION MAY ACTUALLY OCCUR FROM SW-NE SLICING THROUGH THE CENTER OF OUR CWFA. UPR LEVEL WINDS ARE QUITE WEAK...AND STEERING FLOW IS PROGGED TO BE FROM THE W-SW AT ABOUT 5-10KTS. HOWEVER...CORFIDI VECTORS INDICATE MOTION AGAINST THE STORM FLOW...ESPECIALLY IN THE WRN HALF OF THE AREA. SO...WE MAY HAVE TRAINING CELLS AND RELATIVELY HEAVY RAINFALL IN ISOLATED LOCATIONS WHERE STORMS EVENTUALLY DEVELOP THIS AFTN. ALSO...GIVEN STEEP LAPSE RATES IN THE LOW-LEVELS UP TO 750MB...RATHER HIGH CCLS AT 6KFT...AND RELATIVELY DRY AIR IN THE MID-LEVELS...SOME STORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WIND GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH. WILL BE WATCHING FOR CONVECTIVE INITIATION...AND WILL MAKE ANY MESOSCALE UPDATES AS NECESSARY. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && AVIATION...KDW DISCUSSION...KDW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 911 AM CDT THU JUN 26 2008 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-262200- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DE KALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 911 AM CDT THU JUN 26 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... HOT AND UNSTABLE CONDITIONS WILL DEVELOP ONCE AGAIN TODAY. LEFT OVER BOUNDARIES AND A COUPLE OF WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL LEAD TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT BY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THUNDERSTORMS MAY LINGER INTO THE MID EVENING HOURS. ANY OF THE STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF FREQUENT LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS TO 40 MPH...AND SMALL HAIL. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE MICROBURSTS WITH DAMAGING WINDS. IN ADDITION...SINCE STORMS WILL BE SLOW-MOVING AND HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BACK-BUILD OVER THE SAME AREAS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE IN ISOLATED AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... A SIMILAR WEATHER SITUATION IS ANTICIPATED FRIDAY WITH SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. SOME OF THESE COULD BE GUSTY WIND PRODUCERS ONCE AGAIN. AS TROPICAL AIR FLOWS INTO THE REGION OVER THE WEEKEND...RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD. A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT ARRIVING SUNDAY WILL INCREASE THE POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. KULA/KDW
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1203 PM CDT THU JUN 26 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0717 PM HAIL 5 WNW LITTLEVILLE 34.63N 87.76W
06/25/2008 E0.25 INCH COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
DIME SIZED HAIL REPORTED AT NEW BETHEL SCHOOL.
0725 PM TSTM WND DMG 8 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.63N 87.78W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
TREE LIMBS DOWN AND RADIO TOWER DOWN AT NEW BETHEL FIRE
DEPARTMENT.
0730 PM TSTM WND DMG 8 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.63N 87.78W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREES DOWN AT 1490 LOOP RD. TIME ESTIMATED.
0730 PM TSTM WND GST 8 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.63N 87.78W
06/25/2008 U50.00 MPH COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
WIND GUST IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH AT 1490 LOOP RD. TIME
ESTIMATED.
0730 PM TSTM WND DMG 8 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.63N 87.78W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
POWER LINES DOWN ON TREES AT LOOP RD JUST OFF OF HAWK
PRIDE MTN RD. TIME ESTIMATED.
0731 PM LIGHTNING 8 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.63N 87.77W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
OCCUPIED VEHICLE HIT BY LIGHTNING AT 1430 NEW BETHEL RD.
0737 PM HAIL 6 SW MUSCLE SHOALS 34.68N 87.73W
06/25/2008 E1.75 INCH COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL AT 11000 BLOCK OF FRANKFORT RD.
0738 PM FLASH FLOOD 5 SSW TUSCUMBIA 34.67N 87.75W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
6 INCHES OF WATER ON ROAD BETWEEN 9000 AND 11000 BLOCK OF
FRANKFORT RD.
0745 PM TSTM WND DMG 5 SE RED ROCK 34.65N 87.80W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
TREE DOWN AT NEW BETHEL CEMETERY. TIME ESTIMATED.
0754 PM LIGHTNING 5 S MUSCLE SHOALS 34.67N 87.68W
06/25/2008 COLBERT AL EMERGENCY MNGR
TREE FIRE DUE TO LIGHTNING.
&&
AGThe Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:28 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
One tree was downed due to thunderstorm winds associated with a weak downburst. The county sheriff estimated a wind gust of 50 mph.
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, June 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: 97683.