Widespread rain with a few embedded thunderstorms spread across Middle Tennessee during the evening hours of February 23. Lightning from one storm in Humphreys County reportedly struck a food building at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, and the resulting fire destroyed the structure.
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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.
Widespread rain with a few embedded thunderstorms spread across Middle Tennessee during the evening hours of February 23. Lightning from one storm in Humphreys County reportedly struck a food building at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, and the resulting fire destroyed the structure.
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 Feb 21, 6:57 PM CST, 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 657 PM CST THU FEB 21 2013 .UPDATE...FOR 00Z TAFS... && .AVIATION... LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN SHOWERS CONTINUE TO MOVE ACROSS THE MID STATE THIS EVENING..WITH OBS INDICATING A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES IN THE STRONGER CELLS. CEILINGS ARE EXPECTED TO LOWER TO AROUND 2500 FEET AROUND MIDNIGHT AS THE PRECIP CONTINUES TO WEAKEN AND BECOME MORE SCATTERED. RAIN SHOULD TAPER OFF FROM WEST TO EAST IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS ON FRIDAY WITH CEILINGS INCREASING AND CLOUDS THINNING THROUGHOUT THE DAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 313 PM CST THU FEB 21 2013/ DISCUSSION... LATEST RADAR IMAGERY SHOWING THE WIDESPREAD RAINFALL MASSING WITH THE LEADING EDGE APPROACHING I-65. LITTLE IN THE WAY OF LIGHTNING RETURNS ACROSS WESTERN TN. HOWEVER...WE ARE GETTING SOME ACTIVITY ALONG AND WEST OF THE MS RIVER. SOUTHWARD SUPPRESSION OF THE INSTABILITY AXIS HAS OCCURRED OVER THE PAST FEW HOURS HOWEVER. THE WIDESPREAD RAINFALL EXTENDS WESTWARD THROUGH CENTRAL AR. THE ASSOCIATED STRONG UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM IS TRACKING ACROSS KANSAS WITH A NORTHEASTWARD MOVEMENT. THUS...A TRACK THIS FAR TO OUR NORTHWEST WILL LEAVE TN ON THE WARMER SIDE OF THE STORM SYSTEM AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE WET BULB TEMPS INCH UPWARD. RIGHT NOW...THOSE WET BULB TEMPS ARE ABOVE FREEZING ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN HALF OF THE MID STATE. CURRENT TEMPS ARE IN THE 40S FOR MOST AREAS. TONIGHT...THE RAINFALL WILL OVERSPREAD THE AREA. STILL EXPECTING THE SHOWALTER AND THETA E INSTABILITY AXES TO MOVE ACROSS THE AREA OVERNIGHT. SO...TSTMS WILL BE INCLUDED AS WELL. THE SHOWERS WILL END BY FRIDAY MORNING BUT WILL LIKELY CONTINUE A SLIGHT CHANCE ACROSS THE PLATEAU FOR FRIDAY MORNING. PARTIAL CLEARING EXPECTED DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY AS SOME OF THE HIGHER CLOUDINESS HANGS ON. LOOKS LIKE A DRY BUT MILD DAY AS HEIGHTS ARE ON THE INCREASE. ON FRIDAY NIGHT...SOME PATCHY FOG WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE. SKIES WILL BE PARTLY CLOUDY BUT DEWPOINTS WILL REMAIN SOMEWHAT ELEVATED. TOVER VALUES WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SOME PATCHY FOG DEVELOPMENT. MILD CONDITIONS AGAIN FOR SATURDAY UNDER PCLDY SKIES. IN THE EXT FCST...AFTER A COLD FRONT BRINGS A CHANCE OF SHOWERS TO THE AREA ON MONDAY...WE THEN TRANSITION TO SOMEWHAT COLDER TEMPS AND A SEMI-UNSETTLED REGIME. EURO AND GFS BOTH IN SUPPORT OF A GENERAL TROUGHING PATTERN IN THE EAST WITH A FEW WEAK UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM TRAVERSING THE AREA. NOTHING MUCH IN TERMS OF WINTRY WEATHER TO GET EXCITED ABOUT AT THIS POINT. HOWEVER...I WILL ELECT TO PLACE A RAIN/SNOW MIX IN THE FCST FOR WED NT. POPS WILL BE LOW FOR NOW. VERSUS THE MEX GUIDANCE...SLIGHT UNDERCUTS THROUGH THE EXTENDED. && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 11
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN 500 AM CST THU FEB 21 2013 TNZ005>011-022>034-056>066-075-077>080-093>095-221100- 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- 500 AM CST THU FEB 21 2013 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. 31
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning reportedly struck a food building at the Loretta Lynn Ranch in Hurricane Mills, and the resulting fire destroyed the structure.
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, February 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: 428189.