A mesoscale convective system dropped southeast from the middle Mississippi Valley and into the central Tennessee Valley during the late evening on the 4th. The line of thunderstorms formed a small scale bow echo over Lincoln County knocking down numerous trees in and around the city of Fayetteville.
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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.
A mesoscale convective system dropped southeast from the middle Mississippi Valley and into the central Tennessee Valley during the late evening on the 4th. The line of thunderstorms formed a small scale bow echo over Lincoln County knocking down numerous trees in and around the city of Fayetteville.
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 Aug 4, 7:35 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 835 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 2009 .UPDATE...INCREASED SKY COVER TONIGHT...AND POPS ACROSS SCNTRL TN FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS EVENING. && .DISCUSSION...POWERFUL MCS CONTINUES TO RACE TOWARD THE SE ACROSS NW TN THIS EVENING. LATEST SHORT RANGE MODELS THOUGH SHOW THIS ACTIVITY GRADUALLY WEAKENING AS IT APPROACHES NRN AL AS IT RACES AHEAD OF THE EMBEDDED VORT MAX ALOFT. MODELS GENERALLY HAVE A SOMEWHAT TOUGH TIME IN A NW FLOW REGIME...ALTHOUGH WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING... FEEL THE MAJORITY OF THESE TSTMS SHOULD BEGIN TO DIMINISH AS THEY APPROACH NRN AL. CERTAINLY THOUGH CAN NOT RULE OUT SOME OF THIS ACTIVITY CROSSING INTO SCNTRL TN WHERE A SVR TSTM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM. WILL GO AHEAD AND RAISE SKY COVER ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ONCOMING MCS...AND RAISE POPS TO LIKELY ACROSS THE THREE SCNTRL TN COUNTIES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS EVENING. UPDATED GRIDS AND ZONES OUT SHORTLY. && .AVIATION...SCT CU CONTINUES TO DIMINISH ACROSS NRN AL THIS LATE AFTERNOON...AND THIS TREND IS XPCTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING HRS. 2-6HR CCFP SUGGEST THE TSTM COMPLEXES FROM EXTREME NW KY TO NCNTRL/NE TN WILL REMAIN JUST TO THE N OF THE TERMINALS DURING THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HRS...AND THIS THINKING IS REFLECTED IN THE FIRST 9 HRS OF THE TAF PERIOD. MVFR VIS/BR MAY ONCE AGAIN DEVELOP INVOF KMSL PRIOR TO THE MORNING HRS WED. OTHERWISE...TSTMS ARE POSSIBLE FROM 18-24Z WED AS ADDITIONAL MCS LIKE FEATURES TRAVERSE SEWD ACROSS THE CNTRL TN VALLEY. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...NONE. TN...NONE. && 09
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL 645 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 2009 ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-051000- LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN- MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN- 645 PM CDT TUE AUG 4 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THIS EVENING. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE...ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE...WITH THE PRIMARY THREATS WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... SEVERAL UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES WILL KEEP THE CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE IN THE STRONGER STORMS. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD ACROSS THE AREA THIS WEEKEND WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 90S AND HEAT INDICES AROUND 100 DEGREES. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL MAY BE REQUESTED THIS EVENING...MAINLY FOR LOCATIONS NORTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER. RSB/JE
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:53 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds along and behind a gust front knocked down trees on Boonshill to Petersburg Road.
Thunderstorm winds along and behind a gust front knocked down several trees and limbs throughout the city of Fayetteville. Power outages were also reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, August 2009
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: 191848, 177564.