A cold front tracked through the area during the afternoon hours. Thunderstorms developed along and ahead of the front across east Tennessee.
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 the area during the afternoon hours. Thunderstorms developed along and ahead of the front across east Tennessee. With the aid of moderate instability and strong winds a few of storms produced damaging thunderstorm wind. Most of the damage was reported in Madisonville in Monroe 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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 11, 2:15 PM EST, 3 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 315 PM EDT THU APR 11 2013 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT)...THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE FORECAST WILL BE THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER THIS EVENING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. THE COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY LOCATED BACK ACROSS WEST TN. MODELS HAVE CONTINUED TO TREND SLOWER WITH THE TIMING OF THE FRONT AND ITS ASSOCIATED SQUALL LINE. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE CURRENTLY ONGOING ACROSS MIDDLE TN. THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO STRENGTHEN LATER THIS AFTERNOON...AS FRONTOGENETIC FORCING RAMPS UP DURING THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING HOURS. THE MAIN LINE OF CONVECTION WILL PROBABLY ARRIVE ON THE PLATEAU BETWEEN 21Z TO 00Z...ACROSS THE CENTRAL VALLEY AND SOUTHWEST NC BETWEEN 00Z AND 03Z...AND ACROSS NORTHEAST TN AND SOUTHWEST VA BETWEEN 03Z AND 05Z. HOWEVER...SCATTERED STORMS COULD DEVELOP OUT AHEAD OF THIS MAIN LINE...ESPECIALLY AS WE BECOME INCREASINGLY MORE UNSTABLE LATER THIS AFTERNOON. SOUNDINGS INDICATE CAPE VALUES APPROACHING 600 TO 1200 J/KG BY LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING. THE INSTABILITY...COMBINED WITH STRONG UPPER-LEVEL DYNAMICS...WILL ALLOW FOR STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS TO DEVELOP OVER THE FORECAST AREA. MEAN FLOW IS NEARLY PARALLEL TO THE FRONT...WHICH SHOULD ALLOW STORM MODE TO STAY MAINLY LINEAR. EVEN THOUGH THERE IS A LACK OF DIRECTIONAL SHEAR...SPEED SHEAR COULD ALLOW FOR AN ISOLATED EMBEDDED SUPERCELL WITHIN THE LINE. THE MAIN THREATS EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH...THOUGH A BRIEF ISOLATED TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT AS WELL. IT IS WORTH MENTIONING THAT THE SOUTHERN VALLEY HAS A SLIGHTLY HIGHER RISK FOR AN ISOLATED TORNADO AS PARAMETERS ARE A LITTLE MORE FAVORABLE. SPC CURRENTLY HAS THE MAJORITY OF THE CWA UNDER A 2% TOR RISK WHILE THE EXTREME SOUTHERN AREAS ARE UNDER A 5% RISK. IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT...HEAVY RAINFALL COULD POSE A PROBLEM AS WELL. GIVEN THE SLOW MOVING NATURE OF THE FRONT... COMBINED WITH HIGH PWATS ACROSS THE REGION...THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL/TRAINING IS POSSIBLE. SOUNDINGS INDICATE PWAT VALUES RANGING FROM 1.61 SOUTH TO 1.3 NORTH ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA ARE POSSIBLE BY THIS EVENING. BASED ON CLIMATOLOGY...THESE VALUES ARE NEAR/ABOVE THE 99TH PERCENTILE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. THIS MEANS THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL AND LOCALIZED FLOODING ACROSS THE REGION. AFTER 06Z TO 09Z...THE HEAVIEST ACTIVITY WILL BEGIN TO PUSH EAST ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS INTO NORTH CAROLINA...WITH MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA DRYING OUT BY DAYBREAK ON FRIDAY MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL BE CLOSE TO NORMAL ON FRIDAY. DRY WEATHER AND A GRADUAL WARMING TREND RETURN FOR THE WEEKEND AS SURFACE AND UPPER RIDGE RETURN. .LONG TERM (SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)...ON SUNDAY...WEAK RIDGING CONTINUES TO BUILD IN FOR DRY AND A BIT WARMER CONDITION. A COUPLE OF WEAK IMPULSE IN THE UPPER FLOW WILL MOVE THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. THIS WILL AID IN MAINLY DIURNALLY DRIVEN CONVECTION AND HAVE KEPT LOW POPS IN PLACE FOR THIS PERIOD. A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO THE AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT OR THURSDAY... PROVIDING OUR BEST CHANCE OF CONVECTION FOR THE EXTENDED. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN 52 68 43 72 45 / 100 0 0 0 0 KNOXVILLE AIRPORT, TN 55 67 43 67 43 / 100 10 10 0 0 OAK RIDGE, TN 53 68 42 68 41 / 100 10 10 0 10 TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN 57 68 41 69 36 / 100 20 10 0 10 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && SR/MJB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 356 AM EDT THU APR 11 2013 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-120800- 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- 356 AM EDT THU APR 11 2013 /256 AM CDT THU APR 11 2013/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT...WITH SCATTERED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ALSO POSSIBLE OUT AHEAD OF THIS FRONT. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS OF 60 MPH OR GREATER...LARGE HAIL...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES. HEAVY RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRONGEST STORMS COULD ALSO CAUSE LOCALIZED FLOODING OF LOW LYING OR FLOOD PRONE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT. AMP/TG
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 608 PM EDT THU APR 11 2013 TNZ081-082-098-112300- BLEDSOE TN-MARION TN-SEQUATCHIE TN- 508 PM CDT THU APR 11 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MARION...BLEDSOE AND SEQUATCHIE COUNTIES UNTIL 600 PM CDT... AT 505 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A CLUSTER OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS NEAR WHITWELL...WHICH WERE MOVING NORTH AT 55 MPH. SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. IN ADDITION TO SMALL HAIL AND GUSTY WINDS...OCCASIONAL 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. DMG
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 619 PM EDT THU APR 11 2013 TNZ012-112245- SCOTT TN- 619 PM EDT THU APR 11 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SCOTT COUNTY UNTIL 645 PM EDT... AT 614 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES WEST OF ONEIDA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 50 MPH. SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF EXTREME NORTHERN SCOTT COUNTY...NEAR BIG SOUTH FORK.
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:11 UTC.
8 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Law enforcement personnel reported several trees downed by thunderstorm wind in Athens.
Law enforcement personnel reported one tree downed by thunderstorm wind in Pikeville.
Law enforcement personnel reported one tree downed by thunderstorm wind on Signal Mountain.
Law enforcement personnel reported one tree downed by thunderstorm wind in Benton.
Utility company personnel reported around 1400 people without power in Knoxville. Likely due to the strong wind.
Law enforcement personnel reported many trees downed by thunderstorm wind across the county.
Newspaper personnel reported many buildings...numerous trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm wind in Madisonville and the surrounding area. More than 1600 customers were without power.
Amateur radio personnel reported several trees downed by thunderstorm wind 2 miles south of Bluff City in Piney Flats area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, April 2013
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: 438184, 438183, 438185, 438186, 438187, 438188, 447989, 438189.