Record high temperatures in the upper 90s and dewpoints in the low to mid 70s led to oppressive heat across Middle Tennessee on August 2. Two young children reportedly died of heat stroke after being left inside a vehicle for several hours in Rutherford County.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
Record high temperatures in the upper 90s and dewpoints in the low to mid 70s led to oppressive heat across Middle Tennessee on August 2. Two young children reportedly died of heat stroke after being left inside a vehicle for several hours in Rutherford County.
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 2, 3:32 AM CST, 6 hours 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 432 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2012 .UPDATE...ADDED AVIATION SECTION FOR 12Z TAF'S. && .AVIATION...BNA/CKV/CSV...HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO BUILD INTO MIDDLE TENNESSEE AS A WARM, MOIST AIR MASS REMAINS IN PLACE. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED CONVECTION IS ONCE AGAIN EXPECTED DURING THE AFTERNOON, AND WILL HANDLE THIS IN THE TAF'S WITH VCTS/CB REMARKS FOR NOW. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 358 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2012/ SHORT TERM...IT WAS MOSTLY CLEAR...MILD AND MUGGY ACROSS THE MID STATE EARLY THIS MORNING. TODAY'S FORECAST LOOKS A LOT LIKE YESTERDAY'S. WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY, THAT SERVED AS A FOCUS FOR CONVECTION ON WEDNESDAY, WILL LIKELY DO THE SAME TODAY. EXPECT IT TO BE LOCATED NEAR A CKV-TO- CSV LINE, WITH A CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS SOUTH OF THIS LINE AND A SLIGHT CHANCE TO THE NORTH. CAPES WILL REMAIN HIGH SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY AND EXPECT MODEL MOS VALUES ARE PROBABLY TOO LOW (AS THEY WERE YESTERDAY). HIGHS WILL BE VERY SIMILAR TO YESTERDAY'S, WITH HEAT INDEX VALUES OF 100 TO 104 EXPECTED OVER WESTERN AREAS. ONCE AGAIN, WE ARE CLOSE TO HEAT ADVISORY CRITERIA, BUT BELIEVE CLOUDS ASSOCIATED WITH AFTERNOON CONVECTION SHOULD KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM PUSHING TO THOSE "MAGIC" READINGS IN THE 98 TO 99 DEGREE RANGE. STILL EXPECT UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TO KICK OFF AN MCS ACROSS CENTRAL AND/OR SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI BY LATE TODAY, THEN PLOW EAST SOUTHEASTWARD TONIGHT. BELIEVE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY IN OUR MOST NORTHWESTERN COUNTIES BY LATE TONIGHT, WITH THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY AREA-WIDE TOMORROW. WILL PROBABLY SEE SOME PARTIAL CLEARING OVER WESTERN AREAS DURING THE AFTERNOON, AS MAJORITY OF STORMS PUSH INTO OUR EASTERN COUNTIES. AS A RESULT, HAVE GONE A FEW DEGREES ABOVE MAV MOS OVER WESTERN AREAS. ANOTHER SHORT WAVE IS EXPECTED TO SCOOT EASTWARD IN THE FLOW, ACROSS KENTUCKY, ON SATURDAY. HOWEVER, THIS DISTURBANCE LOOKS TO BE A LITTLE WEAKER AND, PERHAPS, A LITTLE FURTHER NORTH THAT THE ONE FRIDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER, KENTUCKY THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO SWING SOME OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES SOUTHWARD INTO OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES. IN ADDITION, ATMOSPHERE ACROSS THE MID STATE REMAINS CHOCKED FULL OF MOISTURE AND SUPPORTIVE OF AT LEAST SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DURING THE DAY ON SATURDAY, AND WILL GO WITH A 50% POP AREA-WIDE. STILL LOOKS LIKE A COLD FRONT WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF ORGANIZED THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY AND SUNDAY EVENING, AND AM GOING WITH LIKELY POPS DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS ON SUNDAY. A DRYING TREND WILL ENSUE MONDAY AND TUESDAY, WITH A RETURN TO MOSTLY SUNNY WEATHER. TEMPERATURES WILL BE SEASONABLY WARM, WITH HIGHS IN THE MIDDLE 80S ALONG THE CUMBERLAND PLATEAU AND AROUND 90 OR IN THE LOWER 90S ELSEWHERE. LONG TERM...NORTHWESTERLY FLOW REMAINS ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD, WITH MOSTLY DRY CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO HOLD THROUGH MID-WEEK AND, PERHAPS, INTO LATE WEEK AS WELL. && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && ROSE
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 558 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2012 TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-031030- 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- 558 AM CDT THU AUG 2 2012 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
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
1034 AM CDT THU AUG 02 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM TSTM WND GST TULLAHOMA 35.37N 86.22W
08/01/2012 E0 MPH COFFEE TN EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALL AROUND TULLAHOMA.
&&
TJOHNSTOPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
1045 AM CDT THU AUG 02 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 PM TSTM WND DMG TULLAHOMA 35.37N 86.22W
08/01/2012 COFFEE TN EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALL AROUND TULLAHOMA.
&&
31The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Two young children died of heat stroke in Smyrna after being left in a vehicle for several hours during the afternoon of August 2. The high temperature reached a daily record of 99 degrees at the nearby Nashville International Airport.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heat, Rutherford | 2012-08-02 | 3 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
| Heat, Rutherford | 2012-08-02 | 2 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, August 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: 404007.