A cold front tracked through southwest North Carolina during the afternoon and evening hours. A few of the storms produced penny size hail and damaging thunderstorm winds.
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 cold front tracked through southwest North Carolina during the afternoon and evening hours. A few of the storms produced penny size hail and damaging thunderstorm winds.
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 Apr 17, 2:20 PM EST, 2 hours 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 320 PM EDT TUE APR 17 2012 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY)...FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS LOCATED JUST EAST OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS SOUTHWEST ACROSS NORTHERN GEORGIA AND NORTHERN ALABAMA. MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW A SHORT-WAVE TROUGH MOVING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT AND WEDNESDAY WITH A 115 KT UPPER LEVEL JET OVER THE OHIO VALLEY. THIS JET WILL PLACE THE FORECAST AREA UNDER THE FAVORED RIGHT ENTRANCE REGION OF THE JET. DIRECT CIRCULATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE RRQ WILL ENHANCE THE FRONTO-GENETIC FORCING ALONG AND NORTH OF THE BOUNDARY. THIS LIFT IS ALREADY PRODUCING AN AREA OF RAIN ACROSS SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND NORTHERN ALABAMA. THIS LIFT WILL MOVE INTO THE FORECAST AREA OVERNIGHT AND THE FIRST HALF OF WEDNESDAY PRODUCING WIDESPREAD RAIN/SHOWERS. IN THE SHORT-TERM DECENT INSTABILITY OVER THE FAR EAST AND SOUTHEAST AREAS TO PRODUCE THUNDERSTORMS. FOR OVERNIGHT...SOUNDINGS SHOW ELEVATED INSTABILITY ACROSS THE EASTERN AND SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA TO INCLUDE THUNDER AS WELL. LIFT FROM FRONTO-GENETIC FORCING WILL DECREASE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH DIMINISHING RAIN INTENSITY AND COVERAGE FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. GENERALLY FOLLOWED GFS MOS VALUES CLOSELY. .LONG TERM (WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY)...GFS AND ECMWF MODELS ARE IN REASONABLE AGREEMENT WITH THE SYNOPTIC-SCALE PATTERN THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD...WITH THE MAIN STORY BEING THE HIGHLY-AMPLIFIED UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH DEVELOPING DURING THE WEEKEND. ZONAL FLOW ALOFT AND SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL CREATE DRY AND TRANQUIL CONDITIONS WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY...WITH A COLD FRONT MOVING INTO THE FORECAST AREA BY FRIDAY NIGHT. BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF MODELS AGREE THAT A HIGHLY-AMPLIFIED UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH WILL CREATE A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY ON SATURDAY...WHICH WILL THEN MOVE UP THE EASTERN SEABOARD EARLY NEXT WEEK. THIS SCENARIO SHOULD RESULT IN A GOOD CHANCE FOR SHOWERS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPS EXPECTED EARLY NEXT WEEK. AS FOR TEMPS...WILL TREND CLOSE TO THE GFS GUIDANCE NUMBERS THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD...WHICH ARE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE ENSEMBLE MEANS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN 54 71 51 78 54 / 100 60 0 0 0 KNOXVILLE AIRPORT, TN 54 68 51 76 54 / 100 90 0 0 0 OAK RIDGE, TN 52 68 51 76 54 / 100 80 0 0 0 TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN 52 62 46 75 49 / 100 100 0 0 0 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && DH/DMG
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 305 AM EDT TUE APR 17 2012 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-180900- 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- 305 AM EDT TUE APR 17 2012 /205 AM CDT TUE APR 17 2012/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 612 PM EDT TUE APR 17 2012 NCZ060-061-172300- CHEROKEE NC-CLAY NC- 612 PM EDT TUE APR 17 2012 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CLAY AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES UNTIL 700 PM EDT... AT 610 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR HAYESVILLE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. PEA SIZE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...ANDREWS...TUSQUITEE AND TOPTON. IN ADDITION TO SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM. MOVE INDOORS IMMEDIATELY! LIGHTNING IS ONE OF NATURES PRIMARY KILLERS ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORMS. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER...YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING.
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:15 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Newspaper personnel reported several trees downed by thunderstorm wind in Hayesville. A couple of the trees fell on houses.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, April 2012
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: 373212.