As a low level low pressure system began to move northeastward out of the Southern Mississippi River Valley Region during the early morning hours, southeasterly low level moisture was spread across southern portions of Middle Tennessee. This resulted in showers and thunderstorms developing across this area.
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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 OHX wrote it up.
As a low level low pressure system began to move northeastward out of the Southern Mississippi River Valley Region during the early morning hours, southeasterly low level moisture was spread across southern portions of Middle Tennessee. This resulted in showers and thunderstorms developing across this area. The hardest hit location was Pulaski in Giles County, where several roads were flooded.
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 Sep 19, 5:17 AM CST, 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 617 AM CDT SAT SEP 19 2009 .UPDATE...INCLUDED AVIATION SECTION. && .AVIATION...MORE RAIN TODAY AS A WARM FRONT LIFTS NORTHWARD THROUGH MIDDLE TENNESSEE. SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP AT BNA/CSV LATER THIS MORNING, WITH RESTRICTED VISIBILITIES AND LOWERING CEILINGS. PERHAPS SOME CONVECTION LATE AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING AS ATMOSPHERIC LIFT INTENSIFIES AND MOISTURE DEEPENS. LOOK FOR SHOWERS AND IFR CEILINGS OVERNIGHT, AS WELL. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 304 AM CDT SAT SEP 19 2009/ DISCUSSION... H5 LOW OVER THE PLAINS IS EXPECTED TO LIFT NWD OVER THE WEEKEND AND BE ABSORBED INTO A LARGE H5 TROUGH THAT IS JUST NOW ENTERING THE PAC NW. THIS IS EXPECTED TO PULL THE SFC LOW NWD FROM LOUISIANA INTO THE WRN PART OF THE STATE EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. THIS WILL LIKELY CONCENTRATE PRECIP OVER THE WRN HALF OF THE AREA. GIVEN THE PREVIOUS RAINS I THOUGHT IT WISE TO RE-ISSUE THE FLOOD WATCH FOR THE PERIOD THROUGH SUNDAY. WITH SLY LOW LEVEL FLOW CONTINUING THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF NEXT WEEK WILL KEEP A CHANCE OF RAIN AT LEAST THROUGH TUE NGT. FOR THE WED-SAT TIME PERIOD...THINGS GET A BIT MORE COMPLICATED. THE GFS AND THE EURO BOTH BRING THE AFOREMENTIONED H5 TROUGH ACROSS THE ROCKIES AND INTO THE WRN PLAINS BY TUE MORNING. BEYOND THAT POINT...THE GFS SHOVES THE H5 LOW WWD INTO THE DESERT SW WHILE THE EURO WALLOWS IT AROUND IN THE CNTRL PLAINS AND THEN MOVES IT EWD INTO THE MID MISS RIVER VALLEY BY SAT AM(9/26). THE GFS EVENTUALLY MOVES THE LOW OUT OF THE DESERT SW AND INTO THE PLAINS WHERE IT GETS ABSORBED BY A MORE POWERFUL LOW DROPPING SEWD OUT OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. THE EFFECT OF THIS ON THE SURFACE SYSTEMS IS THAT THE GFS BRINGS A DRIER NLY FLOW OVER THE AREA ON WED AND KEEP PUMPING IN DRY AIR THROUGH SAT. THE EURO WITH THE H5 LOW TO THE W/NW KEEPS THE AREA WET THROUGH THIS TIME PERIOD. LETS HOPE THE GFS IS RIGHT ON THIS ONE. WEVE HAD ENOUGH RAIN && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING FOR TNZ005>007-022>027- 056>061-093>095. && ROSE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 545 AM CDT SAT SEP 19 2009 TNZ008>011-028>034-062>066-075-077>080-201030- SUMNER-MACON-CLAY-PICKETT-WILSON-TROUSDALE-SMITH-JACKSON-PUTNAM- OVERTON-FENTRESS-RUTHERFORD-CANNON-DEKALB-WHITE-CUMBERLAND- BEDFORD-COFFEE-WARREN-GRUNDY-VAN BUREN- 545 AM CDT SAT SEP 19 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WARM FRONT IS EXPECTED TO PASS NORTHWARD THROUGH MIDDLE TENNESSEE, AND WILL BRING MORE RAIN TO THE AREA. SOME PLACES MAY EXPERIENCE PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL. SINCE THE GROUND IS SATURATED IN MANY AREAS, ADDITIONAL RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO MINOR FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AREAS, CREEKS, AND STREAMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY MORE RAIN IS LIKELY ON SUNDAY AS A COLD FRONT DEVELOPS ACROSS THE MID STATE, KEEPING THE AREA UNDER A CONTINUED RISK OF FLOODING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS AND LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NASHVILLE. TNZ005>007-022>027-056>061-093>095-201030- STEWART-MONTGOMERY-ROBERTSON-BENTON-HOUSTON-HUMPHREYS-DICKSON- CHEATHAM-DAVIDSON-PERRY-HICKMAN-LEWIS-WILLIAMSON-MAURY-MARSHALL- WAYNE-LAWRENCE-GILES- 545 AM CDT SAT SEP 19 2009 ...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH SUNDAY EVENING... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WARM FRONT IS EXPECTED TO PASS NORTHWARD THROUGH MIDDLE TENNESSEE, AND WILL BRING MORE RAIN TO THE AREA. SOME PLACES MAY EXPERIENCE PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL. SINCE THE GROUND IS SATURATED IN MANY AREAS, ADDITIONAL RAINFALL MAY LEAD TO FLOODING OF LOW-LYING AREAS, CREEKS, AND STREAMS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY MORE RAIN IS LIKELY ON SUNDAY AS A COLD FRONT DEVELOPS ACROSS THE MID STATE, KEEPING THE AREA UNDER A CONTINUED RISK OF FLOODING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS AND LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NASHVILLE. ROSE
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:35 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several roads were flooded in and around Pulaski.
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, September 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: 196438.