Isolated severe thunderstorms developed in the afternoon and evening hours. Storm reported contained both damaging winds and large hail.
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 MRX wrote it up.
Isolated severe thunderstorms developed in the afternoon and evening hours. Storm reported contained both damaging winds and large hail. Hail reports were as large as baseball size.
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 Jun 7, 2:10 PM EST, 48 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 310 PM EDT SAT JUN 7 2008 .SHORT TERM...(TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY)...DEFINITELY SEEING MORE COVERAGE OF TSRA THIS AFTERNOON. CUMULUS CLOUDS DEVELOPED GENERALLY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN...WITH NO INDICATIONS AT ALL OF ANY OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES. HOWEVER...AT MID AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND BRIEFLY STORMS WERE FORMING OVER MUCH OF THE SRN MTNS...SMOKY MTNS AND ERN PARTS OF THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU. MOVEMENT APPEARED TO BE NE AT 10 TO 15 MPH. WATCHING THE STRONGER STORMS FOR POSSIBLY PULSING TO NEAR SEVERE STRENGTH. APPEARS THAT BOTH TRI AND OQT SHOULD AT LEAST TIE THE RECORD HIGHS FOR TODAY (93 DEGREES). FORECAST GRIDS LOOKED GOOD FOR TONIGHT WITH 20 TO 30 PERCENT CHANCE POPS ACROSS THE BOARD. STAYED CLOSE TO GFS MINS. FOR SUNDAY...DECIDED TO ADD SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR THE AFTERNOON HOURS FOR AT LEAST THE ERN MTNS...AS I DONT SEE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE COMPLETELY SUPPRESSING CONVECTION. WILL LET MIDNIGHT SHIFT PONDER ADDING LOW POPS ELSEWHERE FOR SUNDAY...AND ANY NEED FOR EVENING POPS. KEPT NEAR RECORD HIGH WORDING OUT OF TYS AND CHA GROUPS ...SINCE RECORD HIGHS FOR CHA AND TYS FOR 6/8 ARE 100 DEGREES. PERSISTENCE ON MINS WAS CLOSE TO GFS VALUES. FOR MONDAY...EXPECT A LITTLE MORE COVERAGE OF TSRA WHICH PREVIOUS FORECAST GRIDS ALREADY TRENDED TOWARD. MAX TEMPS SHOULD BE 1 TO 2 DEGREES LOWER THAN SUNDAY MAX TEMPS. LITTLE CHANGES MADE TO PREVIOUS GRIDS FOR MONDAY. .LONG TERM...(MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY)...RIDGE WILL CONTINUE TO SLIP EAST TO THE WESTERN ATLANTIC EARLY IN THE PERIOD AS SHORT WAVE AND ASSOCIATED WEAK COOL FRONT BUILDS SLOWLY SOUTH AND EAST TOWARD THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. USING ECMWF MODEL FRONTAL TIMING WOULD BE LATE TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY AND STAYED WITH HIGHEST CHANCE POPS DURING THIS PERIOD. HOWEVER SOME MEDIUM CHANCE POPS WILL BE MAINTAINED IN THE TERRAIN AREAS WITH SLIGHT CHANCE IN THE GREAT VALLEY THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED FORECAST AS MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY PROGGED TO BE SUFFICIENT FOR WIDELY SCATTERED CONVECTION IN THE VALLEY WITH SCATTERED DEVELOPMENT IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN. WENT QUITE CLOSE TO MEX MOS TEMP GUIDANCE THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN 71 95 71 92 70 / 20 10 10 20 20 KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT, TN 70 94 70 92 69 / 20 10 10 20 20 OAK RIDGE, TN 70 96 69 93 69 / 20 10 10 20 20 TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN 64 95 63 93 67 / 20 10 10 30 20 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && TG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 500 AM EDT SAT JUN 7 2008 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-081000- CHEROKEE-CLAY-SCOTT TN-CAMPBELL-CLAIBORNE-HANCOCK-HAWKINS- SULLIVAN-JOHNSON-MORGAN-ANDERSON-UNION-GRAINGER-HAMBLEN- NORTHWEST COCKE-COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTHWEST GREENE- SOUTHEAST GREENE-WASHINGTON TN-UNICOI-NORTHWEST CARTER- SOUTHEAST CARTER-ROANE-LOUDON-KNOX-JEFFERSON-NW BLOUNT- BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-NORTH SEVIER-SEVIER SMOKY MOUNTAINS- SEQUATCHIE-BLEDSOE-RHEA-MEIGS-MCMINN-NORTHWEST MONROE- SOUTHEAST MONROE-MARION-HAMILTON-BRADLEY-WEST POLK-EAST POLK-LEE- WISE-SCOTT-RUSSELL-WASHINGTON- 500 AM EDT (400 AM CDT) SAT JUN 7 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST TENNESSEE...SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE... PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY HIGH PRESSURE WILL LINGER ACROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION THROUGH NEXT WEEK...BRINGING HOT CONDITIONS WITH A FEW ISOLATED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE EACH DAY. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED DUE TO THE ISOLATED NATURE OF THE EXPECTED SEVERE WEATHER. DMG
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 322 PM EDT SAT JUN 7 2008 TNZ082-072000- BLEDSOE- 222 PM CDT SAT JUN 7 2008 ...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM IS AFFECTING BLEDSOE COUNTY... AT 218 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTH OF PIKEVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT AROUND 8 MPH. WINDS 30 TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. IN ADDITION TO GUSTY WINDS...CONTINUOUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. MOVE INDOORS IMMEDIATELY LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURES PRIMARY KILLERS. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:00 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Blount County highway department reported a few trees and limbs downed by thunderstorm winds southwest of near Townsend.
Alcoa Electric Company reported several trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm winds in the Sixmile and Blockhouse areas.
Amateur radio reported several trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm winds along Pea Ridge Road to the Walland area.
Law enforcement reported half-dollar-size hail countywide.
Law enforcement reported one large tree downed by thunderstorm winds on Old Sugar Limb Road 2 miles west of Lenoir City.
Law enforcement reported baseball-size hail in Lenoir City.
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: 102259, 102260, 102261, 102262, 102263, 102264.