Scattered thunderstorms moved southward out of Kentucky during the afternoon and evening hours. A few storms became severe with wind damage and large hail reported.
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.
Scattered thunderstorms moved southward out of Kentucky during the afternoon and evening hours. A few storms became severe with wind damage and large hail reported.
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 Aug 18, 1:03 PM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 203 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2011 .DISCUSSION... FORECAST REASONING WILL LEAN TOWARD A CONSENSUS MODEL SOLUTION COMPROMISE FOR THE FORECAST PERIOD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MAIN FORECAST QUANDARIES...ASSOCIATED IMPACT OF NWLY UPPER LEVEL FLOW...TEMPS. AS FOR TONIGHT...WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE SOME ISO TSTMS ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE MID STATE...ESPECIALLY THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION THRU THE EARLY EVENING HRS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT MOCLR TO PTCDLY SKIES FOR MOST OF THE REMAINDER OF THE NIGHT. A WEAK SHORTWAVE IN NWLY FLOW ALOFT IS EXPECTED TO APPROACH THE NRN HALF OF THE MID STATE LATE TONIGHT...RESULTING IN ENOUGH INCREASED INSTABILITY TO SUPPORT ISO TSTMS ACROSS NRN PORTIONS OF THE AREA TOWARD DAYBREAK. WITH INCREASING CLOUD COVERAGE COMING IN LATE...AND LIGHT SLY FLOW EXPECTED AT BEST...WILL UNDERCUT BOTH GFS/NAM MOS VALUES...AND GO WITH LOWS CLOSER TO SEASONABLE NORMS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. LOWS WILL BE AROUND 70...MID 60S CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. AS FOR FRI...AS WITH MOST NWLY UPPER LEVEL FLOW REGIMES...IT CAN BE HARD TO PLACE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT ACROSS A WIDE AREA FOR CERTAIN... WITH SUBTLE SHORTWAVE PASSAGES...ALONG WITH DIURNAL HEATING INFLUENCES... AND AIRMASS MOISTURE CONTENT...PLAYING KEY ROLES. CONSENSUS MODEL SOLUTIONS HOWEVER ARE SHOWING A SHORTWAVE PASSAGE ACROSS THE MID STATE DURING THE MORNING AND ALSO DURING THE LATER AFTERNOON HRS. WITH WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY REMAINING TO OUR N...MID STATE SHOULD PERHAPS EXPERIENCE A LITTLE BIT MORE SLY WIND AND MOISTURE FLOW...RESULTING IN THESE ISO TSTMS DEVELOPING WITH AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPS IN THE MID 90S...UPPER 80S ACROSS THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. AS FOR FRI NIGHT...LOOKS LIKE BEST POTENTIAL FOR ISO SHWRS/TSTMS ACROSS CNTRL AND ERN PORTIONS OF THE MID STATE...WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SCT SHWRS/TSTMS ACROSS NRN PORTIONS OF THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU...AS THIS LOOKS LIKE THE AREA WITH THE BEST POTENTIAL OF EXPERIENCING IMPACTS FROM SUBTLE SHORTWAVE PASSAGES IN THE FLOW. WITH EXPECTING A LITTLE BIT MORE CLOUDINESS FRI NIGHT AS COMPARED TO TONIGHT...WILL GO WITH OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE LOWER 70S...UPPER 60S CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. AS FOR SAT...SOME MODEL DISCREPANCIES ON WHETHER SHORTWAVE PASSAGES IN NWLY FLOW WILL CONTINUE...OR IF FLOW WILL BECOME MORE ZONAL IN NATURE... OR HAVE SOME SLIGHT RIDGING CHARACTERISTICS. WITH THIS IN MIND...WILL CONTINUE WITH ISO TSTMS THRU THE DAY...A GENERAL VARIABLE CLOUDINESS TREND PER POSSIBLE SHORTWAVE PASSAGES...AND CONTINUE WITH AFTERNOON HIGH TEMPERATURE VALUES AROUND 5 DEGREES HIGHER THAN CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMS FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR...WITH AFTERNOON HIGHS CONTINUING IN THE MID 90S... UPPER 80S CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. AS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...LOOK FOR A WEAK COLD FRONT TO PUSH THRU THE MID STATE ON SUN...AND THIS...LIKE MORNING DISCUSSION STATED...WILL BE THE BEST CHANCE FOR DEEPER MOISTURE ACROSS THE MID STATE AND CHANCE SHWRS/TSTMS FROM SUN THRU MON. NWLY FLOW WILL AGAIN BE PREDOMINATELY ESTABLISHED THRU NEXT WEEK... AND JUST CAN NOT RULE OUT ISO TSTMS THRU THE ENTIRE PERIOD...AS AGAIN...SUBTLE SHORTWAVE PASSAGES WILL CONTINUE IN NWLY FLOW ALOFT WITH DIURNAL INFLUENCES...AND OVERALL AIRMASS MOISTURE CONTENT... ALSO PLAYING KEY ROLES. AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL BE AROUND OR IN THE LOWER 90S...MID TO UPPER 80S CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S...LOW TO MID 60S ACROSS THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU REGION. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... NASHVILLE 70 95 72 94 / 20 20 20 20 CLARKSVILLE 67 94 70 93 / 20 20 20 20 CROSSVILLE 63 88 68 87 / 20 20 20 20 COLUMBIA 70 95 72 95 / 20 20 20 20 LAWRENCEBURG 70 95 71 95 / 20 20 10 20 WAVERLY 68 95 71 95 / 20 20 20 20 && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 31
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 500 AM CDT THU AUG 18 2011 TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-191030- 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-DE KALB-WHITE- CUMBERLAND-BEDFORD-COFFEE-WARREN-GRUNDY-VAN BUREN-WAYNE-LAWRENCE- GILES- 500 AM CDT THU AUG 18 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. ROSE
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
307 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2011
TNZ006-007-182030-
MONTGOMERY-ROBERTSON-
307 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2011
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MONTGOMERY AND ROBERTSON
COUNTIES...
AT 302 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 11 MILES NORTHEAST OF GUTHRIE...OR 18 MILES
NORTHWEST OF SPRINGFIELD...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.
PEOPLE IN NORTHEASTERN MONTGOMERY AND NORTHWESTERN ROBERTSON
COUNTIES...SHOULD MONITOR THE WEATHER SITUATION CLOSELY. LISTEN FOR
POSSIBLE WARNINGS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION SHOULD
SEVERE WEATHER THREATEN.
AT THIS TIME...THIS THUNDERSTORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HALF INCH
SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS AROUND 40 MPH IN MONTGOMERY AND ROBERTSON
COUNTIES. HOWEVER...IF THE STORM REMAINS SEVERE...A WARNING FOR
STRONGER WINDS WILL NEED TO BE ISSUED.
LAT...LON 3655 8665 3643 8702 3659 8726 3665 8723
3665 8712 3666 8668
13The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
One tree was blown down along Highway 161.
Shingles were blown off an outbuilding and crops were blown down.
A trained spotter estimated a wind gust of 60 mph.
Trees were blown down southeast of Mount Pleasant.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, August 2011
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: 342074, 342075, 342076, 342077, 342078.