A tornado struck near the town of Loretto in Lawrence County. A microburst occurred at Neapolis in Maury County.
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 OHX wrote it up.
A tornado struck near the town of Loretto in Lawrence County. A microburst occurred at Neapolis in Maury County.
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 Nashville, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 8, 7:56 AM CST, 3 hours 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 856 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 .DISCUSSION... LARGE AREA OF PRECIPITATION JUST NOW MOVING ACROSS THE TN RIVER. SOME SCT ACTIVITY ALSO ONGOING ACROSS THE EASTERN MID STATE. SO FAR...THE BULK OF THE SEVERE IS TO OUR SW. THE BETTER SFC INSTABILITIES AND STRONGEST LOW LEVEL FORCING WILL REMAIN TO OUR SOUTH THROUGH TODAY. WILL THEREFORE CONTINUE TO REFRAIN FROM MENTIONING SEVERE IN ANY OF THE ZONES FOR TODAY. AT ANY RATE...SHOWERS AND TSTMS TO OVERSPREAD THE AREA. THIS IS DEPICTED WELL IN THE CURRENT ZONES. ONLY CHANGE WILL BE TO LOWER TEMPS 1 CAT. BIG MASS OF RAIN ON THE WAY AND THE TIME HEIGHT PROFILES SUGGESTS THAT THE DEEPER MOISTURE WILL CONTINUE THIS AFTERNOON. FURTHERMORE...18Z PROGS AVG AROUND 68 DEGREES FOR BNA AT 18Z. OTW...WINDS LOOK OK. SHOULD SEE THE 10-15 PAN OUT AS GRADIENT STRENGTHENS SOME BY AFTERNOON. && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && 21
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 1125 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-091030- STEWART-MONTGOMERY-ROBERTSON-SUMNER-MACON-CLAY-PICKETT-BENTON- HOUSTON-HUMPHREYS-DICKSON-CHEATHAM-DAVIDSON-WILSON-TROUSDALE- SMITH-JACKSON-PUTNAM-OVERTON-FENTRESS-PERRY-HICKMAN-LEWIS- WILLIAMSON-MAURY-MARSHALL-RUTHERFORD-CANNON-DEKALB-WHITE- CUMBERLAND-BEDFORD-COFFEE-WARREN-GRUNDY-VAN BUREN-WAYNE-LAWRENCE- GILES- 1125 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. AS DAYTIME HEATING DESTABILIZES THE ATMOSPHERE...A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL DEVELOP. DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT BUT ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE. THE SOUTH HALF OF THE MID STATE WILL HAVE THE GREATEST POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER... LASTING THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A WEAK FRONT AND LINGERING INSTABILITY WILL BRING A RISK FOR ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS ON FRIDAY. LOCALIZED DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE POSSIBLE. ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE REGION SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY AND AGAIN SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. 07
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 1024 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 TNZ056>058-060-061-075-077-079-093>095-081700- PERRY-HICKMAN-LEWIS-MAURY-MARSHALL-BEDFORD-COFFEE-GRUNDY-WAYNE- LAWRENCE-GILES- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LINDEN...LOBELVILLE...CENTERVILLE... HOHENWALD...COLUMBIA...LEWISBURG...SHELBYVILLE...TULLAHOMA... MANCHESTER...TRACY CITY...ALTAMONT...COALMONT...WAYNESBORO... LAWRENCEBURG...PULASKI 1024 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE INCLUDING THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU THROUGH NOON. THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL AND WIND GUSTS TO 4O MPH. THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF THUNDERSTORMS REACHING SEVERE LIMITS THUS WARNINGS MAY NEED TO BE ISSUED.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 1145 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 TNZ093>095-081745- GILES-LAWRENCE-WAYNE- 1145 AM CDT THU MAY 8 2008 ...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS AFFECTING GILES...LAWRENCE AND WAYNE COUNTIES... AT 1138 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR COLLINWOOD...OR 13 MILES SOUTH OF WAYNESBORO...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. THIS STORM WILL BE NEAR... LAWRENCEBURG BY 1220 PM CDT. 5 MILES NORTH OF PULASKI BY 1235 PM CDT. SMALL HAIL...AND WINDS 30 TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. 07
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 129 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:34 UTC.
2 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A large tree fell on a house at 834 Clax Branch Rd. A number of trees were snapped and uprooted. A barn on Clax Branch Road was destroyed.
A few trees were uprooted in a microburst. There was damage to some gas pumps at a Shell gasoline station.
A tornado hit a forested area in Giles County. Trees were uprooted and snapped. Some trees were even twisted. There was no property damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Tennessee, 2008Warnings in Tennessee, May 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: 95098, 95093, 95117.