A long duration rain event began over northwest portions of Middle Tennessee on December 4 and continued into December 5. Rain totals of 3 to 5 inches resulted in flooding of secondary roadways across Stewart County, with several roads closed on December 5.
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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.
A long duration rain event began over northwest portions of Middle Tennessee on December 4 and continued into December 5. Rain totals of 3 to 5 inches resulted in flooding of secondary roadways across Stewart County, with several roads closed on December 5.
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 Dec 4, 5:16 AM CST, 2 hours 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 516 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011 .UPDATE...ADDED AVIATION SECTION FOR 12Z TAF'S. && .AVIATION...BNA/CSV...LOOK FOR SHOWERS TO MOVE SLOWLY INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE TODAY AS A COLD FRONT EDGES TOWARD THE MID STATE. WINDS WILL BE GUSTY AHEAD OF THE FRONT AS THE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENT TIGHTENS UP. SHOWERS WILL LIKELY DEVELOP AT BNA DURING THE AFTERNOON, ALTHOUGH CIGS SHOULD REMAIN ABOVE 3 KFT UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT. AT CSV, EXPECT VFR WX THE NEXT 24 HRS AS SHOWERS PROGRESS SLOWLY. WILL SEE MAINLY MID-LEVEL CIGS, WITH PERHAPS SOME VCSH BY LATE EVENING, ALTHOUGH CIGS SHOULD REMAIN ABOVE 3 KFT THROUGHOUT THE TAF PERIOD. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 401 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011/ DISCUSSION...SFC FRONT LIES FROM MADISON WI TO WES PLAINS MO TO COLLEGE STATION TX. FRONT HAS BEEN MOVING EWD AT 15 TO 20 MPH. UPPER LEVEL FLOW ON SATELLITE LOOPS SHOW A LARGE RIDGE OVER THE ATLANTIC COASTAL WATERS TO THE GULF OF MEXICO AND A LARGE UPPER TROUGH OVER THE SRN ROCKIES AND NRN PLAINS. THE TROUGH HAS 2 FEATURES OF INTEREST...A CLOSED LOW OVER AZ AND A VIGOROUS SHORTWAVE MOVING SEWD THROUGH THE NRN ROCKIES. MODELS EXPECT THE SHORTWAVE OVER THE NRN ROCKIES TO DROP SSEWD AND RAPIDLY EJECT THE CLOSED LOW OVER AZ TOWARD THE NE. THIS WILL HAVE THE EFFECT OF MOVING THE SFC FRONT CLOSER TO MIDDLE TENNESSEE. THIS FEATURE WEAKENS AS IT MOVES NEWD. THE EFFECT ON THE SFC FRONT WILL BE TO MOVE IT EWD INTO EXTREME NWRN MIDDLE TENNESSEE LATE TONIGHT. THE COMBINATION OF THE IMPULSE ALOFT AND THE SFC FRONT COMBINED WITH EXTENSIVE COLUMN MOISTURE NECESSITATED THE FLOOD WATCH FOR TONIGHT AND MONDAY. FRONTAL MOVEMENT INCREASES ON MON WITH THE FRONT NEAR STEWART COUNTY MON MORNING AND THEN MOVING INTO THE AREA OF CLAY...RUTHERFORD AND GILES COUNTIES BY MONDAY EVENING. FRONT CONTINUES EWD MON NGT AND MOVES OUT OF THE PLATEAU AND INTO EAST TENNESSEE EARLY TUE MORNING. RAIN CHANCES HANG ON THROUGH WED BEFORE ENDING OVER MOST AREAS WED NGT AS THE UPPER TROUGH FINALLY PUSHES THE MOISTURE FIELD BEHIND THE FRONT FURTHER EAST. ONE AREA OF DISAGREEMENT WAS ON WED NGT. GFS FORMS A LOW ON THE FRONT OVER GA/AL. THIS CAUSES THE PRECIP FIELD TO RE- INTENSIFY OVER THE MIDSTATE. THE ECM SOLUTION SEEMS MORE REASONABLE WITH A SMALLER AND LESS INTENSE PRECIP RESPONSE. AS FAR AS ANY CHANGEOVER TO FROZEN PRECIP...PROBABLY MOST LIKELY ON WED NGT AND THU AM. ATTM...NO SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED. && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLOOD WATCH FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR TNZ005-006-022>024. && ROSE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 503 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011 TNZ007>011-025>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-051130- ROBERTSON-SUMNER-MACON-CLAY-PICKETT-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- 503 AM CST SUN DEC 4 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...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY HEAVY RAIN WILL SPREAD THROUGHOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE ON MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT, WITH MOST LOCATIONS RECEIVING 1 TO 2 INCHES DURING THAT TIME. GIVEN LAST WEEK'S HEAVY RAINFALL, THERE IS AN INCREASED CHANCE OF LOCALIZED FLOODING, AS WELL AS FLOODING OF CREEKS AND RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS AND LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NASHVILLE. TNZ005-006-022>024-051130- STEWART-MONTGOMERY-BENTON-HOUSTON-HUMPHREYS- 503 AM CST SUN DEC 4 2011 ...FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT LOOK FOR HEAVY RAINFALL TO DEVELOP SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A COLD FRONT NOSES INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE. AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES OR MORE BY MONDAY MORNING WILL BE COMMON AROUND THE CLARKSVILLE, DOVER, AND WAVERLY AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY HEAVY RAIN WILL SPREAD THROUGHOUT MIDDLE TENNESSEE ON MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT, WITH MOST LOCATIONS RECEIVING 1 TO 2 ADDITIONAL INCHES DURING THAT TIME. GIVEN LAST WEEK'S HEAVY RAINFALL, THERE IS AN INCREASED CHANCE OF LOCALIZED FLOODING, AS WELL AS FLOODING OF CREEKS AND RIVERS. .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 national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several secondary roads were closed across Stewart County due to flooding, including Rorie Hollow Road, Bellwood Landing Road, and Johnson Hollow Road.
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, December 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: 353104.