The humid air mass over Eastern Tennessee became moderately to strongly unstable ahead of a cold frontal boundary generating damaging winds. In addition, flash flooding developed across parts of the region due to storms moving across already saturated ground from soaking rain that occurred earlier in the week.
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.
The humid air mass over Eastern Tennessee became moderately to strongly unstable ahead of a cold frontal boundary generating damaging winds. In addition, flash flooding developed across parts of the region due to storms moving across already saturated ground from soaking rain that occurred earlier in the week.
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 Jul 10, 1:42 PM EST, 3 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 242 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 .SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT)... A VERY MOIST AIR MASS WILL BE OVER THE AREA TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...UNTIL A COLD FRONT PUSHES INTO THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT. THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ONGOING SHOWERS WILL BE MOVING SLOWLY AND PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE FLASH FLOODING...BUT DO NOT EXPECT WIDESPREAD PROBLEMS WHICH WOULD WARRANT A WATCH AT THIS TIME. AN ISOLATED STORM MAY PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. A MCV FROM EARLIER CONVECTION OVER MO/IL/WRN KY IS NOW TRIGGERING DEVELOPMENT OVER CNTL KY...AND IS SHOWN BY THE MODELS TO CROSS THE AREA LATER TONIGHT...SO STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. PLENTY OF MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WILL BE IN PLACE TOMORROW AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING FRONT TO CONTINUE LIKELY POPS AREA WIDE. A LITTLE HIGHER 0-6 KM SHEAR MAY LEAD TO A BETTER SEVERE POTENTIAL TOMORROW AFTERNOON...THOUGH FLOODING POTENTIAL MAY BE LOWER DUE TO FASTER STORM MOTION. THE FRONT AND THE MIDLEVEL TROUGH AXIS MOVE THROUGH 03Z- 09Z FRIDAY...WITH MUCH DRIER AIR BUILDING IN. WILL END ALL POPS BY MIDNIGHT. .LONG TERM (FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY)... DRY NORTHERLY FLOW BEHIND THURSDAY/S COLD FRONT WILL BRING IN A DRIER...SLIGHTLY COOLER AIR MASS FOR THE WEEKEND. MINIMAL DIURNALLY DRIVEN CONVECTION IS POSSIBLE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY BUT THIS SHOULD REMAIN CONFINED TO HIGHER ELEVATIONS AND MAINLY OVER THE SOUTHEAST. STRONG HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE CENTRAL U.S. WILL SHIFT A BIT NORTHWARD EARLY IN THE WEEK ALLOWING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TO RETURN TO THE AREA. REMNANTS OF CHANTAL MAY WILL ADD TO THIS MOISTURE INFLUX. THIS WILL AID DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED CONVECTION ACROSS THE AREA MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN 73 86 67 87 67 / 70 70 20 10 10 KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT, TN 72 84 67 85 64 / 70 70 20 10 10 OAK RIDGE, TN 71 83 65 85 63 / 70 60 20 10 10 TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN 69 80 62 81 61 / 70 70 30 10 10 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...NONE. TN...NONE. VA...NONE. && DGS/MJB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 342 AM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-110745- 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- 342 AM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 /242 AM CDT WED JUL 10 2013/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... ...ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE TODAY AND TONIGHT... A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS TONIGHT. AHEAD OF THE FRONT...TROPICAL- LIKE AIR-MASS WILL REMAIN ACROSS THE REGION THROUGH TONIGHT. AREAS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. SOME OF THESE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING COULD BECOME SEVERE WITH THE MAIN CONCERN BEING DAMAGING WINDS. ALSO...FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...LOCALIZED HEAVY RAINFALL IS AGAIN POSSIBLE. SINCE THE GROUND IS SATURATED...ANY ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS MAY PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THESE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE. THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND HEAVY RAINFALL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AND AGAIN ON THURSDAY.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 1231 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 TNZ083-084-101730- MEIGS TN-RHEA TN- 1231 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR MEIGS AND RHEA COUNTIES UNTIL 130 PM EDT... AT 1228 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES EAST OF DAYTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH. HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE...DECATUR...PEAKLAND AND BIG SPRING. THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. MJB
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 226 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 TNZ068-071-086-101930- LOUDON TN-NORTHWEST MONROE TN-NW BLOUNT TN- 226 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR BLOUNT...MONROE AND LOUDON COUNTIES UNTIL 330 PM EDT... AT 217 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM FARRAGUT TO MADISONVILLE...AND MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH. HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THESE STORMS INCLUDE...ALCOA... MARYVILLE...MOUNT VERNON...FRIENDSVILLE...VONORE...GREENBACK... TELLICO PLAINS...CLOVER HILL...TARIFFVILLE...CITICO BEACH... TALASSEE...HAPPY VALLEY AND WALLAND. THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. MJB
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 238 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 TNZ014-037-038-069-070-073-101930- CLAIBORNE TN-GRAINGER TN-JEFFERSON TN-KNOX TN-NORTH SEVIER TN-UNION TN- 238 PM EDT WED JUL 10 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SEVIER...KNOX...JEFFERSON... GRAINGER...CLAIBORNE AND UNION COUNTIES UNTIL 330 PM EDT... AT 229 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM 10 MILES NORTH OF MAYNARDVILLE TO KNOXVILLE...AND MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS. LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THESE STORMS INCLUDE...RUTLEDGE...NEW MARKET...ROSE HILL...LUTTRELL...SPRINGDALE...MASCOT...SANDLICK... BLAINE...STRAWBERRY PLAINS...LONE MOUNTAIN...JOPPA...KODAK AND BUFFALO SPRINGS. THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. MJB
The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:46 UTC.
8 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 1 heavy rain. Local standard time, as filed.
A few trees were downed from Knoxville eastward toward the Knox County line.
Several trees were reported down in Blaine.
Power lines were reported down on Rocky Springs Road and on Huntsman Lane in Bean Station.
Power lines were reported down in Surgoinsville on Longs Bend Road.
Localized flooding near Hampton.
One tree was reported down on Black Oak Ridge Road.
A few trees were reported down around Whitwell.
Several trees and power lines were reported down across the county.
Several trees were reported down in Orme.
Dispatch was very busy with the event. But could only report that several roads were closed.
Three feet of water running down several South Pittsburg streets. Water flowing through homes.
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, July 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: 454953, 454957, 454959, 454960, 467034, 454963, 454962, 454964, 454967, 467032, 467033.