A weak cold front tracked through the area triggering thunderstorms across east Tennessee during the afternoon hours. A few of the storms produced a damaging thunderstorm wind downing some trees.
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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 MRX wrote it up.
A weak cold front tracked through the area triggering thunderstorms across east Tennessee during the afternoon hours. A few of the storms produced a damaging thunderstorm wind downing some trees. Hail as large as a quarter was also 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 Morristown, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 23, 12:23 PM EST, 1 hour 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 123 PM EDT FRI AUG 23 2013 .AVIATION...CONVECTION IS NOT DEVELOPING QUITE AS QUICKLY AS MODELS WERE ANTICIPATING. LEFT IN VCTS THROUGH THE EVENING AS THE ISOLATED CELLS CURRENTLY DEVELOPING WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA. MIDLEVEL DRY AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION THIS EVENING...LIMITING DEVELOPMENT TO JUST A FEW SMALL ISOLATED SHOWERS. AFTER THE FRONT MOVES THROUGH...SKIES WILL BEGIN TO CLEAR FOG DEVELOPING IN THE EARLY MORNING AT ALL TAF SITES. EXPECT MVFR CONDITIONS AT CHA AND TYS...WITH LIFR CONDITIONS AT TRI. && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && JW
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 526 AM EDT FRI AUG 23 2013 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-240930- 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- 526 AM EDT FRI AUG 23 2013 /426 AM CDT FRI AUG 23 2013/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... PATCHY AREAS OF FOG WILL BE ENCOUNTERED THIS MORNING...AND COULD BE LOCALLY DENSE ENOUGH TO REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO BETWEEN ZERO AND 1/2 OF A MILE AT TIMES. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP BY THIS AFTERNOON...BUT ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME STRONG OR SEVERE AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. TG
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:27 UTC.
7 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Two separate callers from the public reported several trees were snapped by the thunderstorm wind along Cane Mill Road 1 mile north of Russellville. One of the callers also reported an above ground pool was flipped into the neighbors yard.
Law enforcement personnel reported several trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm wind across the county.
Law enforcement personnel reported 1 tree downed by thunderstorm wind 6 miles southwest of Lenoir City at the intersection of Vonore Road and Davis Ferry Road.
Law enforcement personnel reported 1 tree downed by thunderstorm wind 2 miles southeast of Friendsville on Big Springs Ridge Road.
Highway department personnel reported 2-3 trees downed by thunderstorm wind countywide.
A trained spotter reported thunderstorms produced quarter-size hail 2 miles west of Brayton.
Law enforcement personnel reported 1 tree downed by thunderstorm wind in Dunlap.
Highway department personnel reported 6 trees downed by thunderstorm wind countywide.
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, August 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: 464579, 464582, 464588, 464595, 474349, 464600, 464605, 474187.