A boundary across the area triggered slow moving thunderstorms during the afternoon hours. Storm reports contained both damaging thunderstorm winds and flooding.
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.
A boundary across the area triggered slow moving thunderstorms during the afternoon hours. Storm reports contained both damaging thunderstorm winds and flooding.
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 Aug 18, 12:59 PM EST, 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
159 PM EDT WED AUG 18 2010
.AVIATION...BOUNDARY TRACKING THROUGH THE AREA PRODUCING SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ASSOCIATED WITH IT. CURRENTLY ALL SITES ARE VFR...BUT
SHOULD DROP TO MVFR AS THE FEATURE MOVES THROUGH TODAY. IFR
CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AT TRI LATE TONIGHT...BUT SHOULD BE BACK TO
MVFR AFTER 13Z.
&&
.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC...NONE.
TN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
ANDERSON...CAMPBELL...CLAIBORNE...HANCOCK...HAWKINS...
JOHNSON...MORGAN...NORTHWEST CARTER...SCOTT TN...SULLIVAN...
UNION.
VA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
LEE...RUSSELL...SCOTT...WASHINGTON...WISE.
&&
GHHAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 459 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2010 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-190900- 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- 459 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2010 /359 AM CDT WED AUG 18 2010/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP AND MOVE NORTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA BY EARLY AFTERNOON. DUE TO THE EXPECTED SLOW MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE...WITH SOME FLOODING POSSIBLE IN A FEW AREAS. SINCE THERE HAS BEEN REPEATED AREAS OF HEAVY RAINFALL THAT HAS OCCURRED IN THE PAST 24 HOURS ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...AND TENNESSEE COUNTIES BORDERING KENTUCKY AND VIRGINIA FROM 2 PM EDT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT TONIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS WILL RANGE FROM AN INCH TO AROUND TWO INCHES ACROSS THE AREA...WITH SOME ISOLATED AND LOCALIZED AMOUNTS APPROACHING THREE INCHES. MORE HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED OVERNIGHT TONIGHT...WHICH MAY RESULT IN FURTHER FLASH FLOODING IN SOME AREAS IN EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. IF YOU APPROACH A FLOODED ROAD...TURN AROUND...DON'T DROWN. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED ROADS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A VERY MOIST AIR MASS WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK...WITH SLOW-MOVING AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING A THREAT FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL EACH DAY...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING DUE TO THE POTENTIAL FOR FLASH FLOODING. TT
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1040 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2010
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM FLASH FLOOD E TRADE 36.35N 81.75W
08/17/2010 JOHNSON TN DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
HIGH WATER ON DUGGER HOLLOW RD, FRANK SHUPE LN, AND REECE
RD...REPORTED BY HWY DEPT.
&&
SROBERTSThe Knoxville radar (KMRX), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:16 UTC.
2 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
High department personnel reported slow moving thunderstorms brought heavy rain to Elk Valley resulting in a minor mudslide on Lick Fork Lane. Part of the bank containing a tree slid onto the road.
Highway department personnel reported numerous roads flooded in Oneida from slow moving thunderstorms. Some roads were under 2 feet of water.
Emergency management personnel reported numerous trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm wind near the intersection on Big Spring Gap Mountain Road and Beaver Hill Road north of Pikeville.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, August 2010
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: 251452, 251459, 251462.