The combination of summer heating and high low level moisture content provided the necessary conditions to create a highly unstable environment across the Southern Appalachian region. The instability and more than adequate upper level west to northwesterly flow allowed an mesoscale convective system to remain quite strong as it moved east across the area.
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 combination of summer heating and high low level moisture content provided the necessary conditions to create a highly unstable environment across the Southern Appalachian region. The instability and more than adequate upper level west to northwesterly flow allowed an mesoscale convective system to remain quite strong as it moved east across the area. Downburst winds in some areas were in the 60 to 70 mile an hour range with speeds as high as 80 miles an hour estimated. Trees were downed across a broad area and resulted in the deaths of three people.
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 8, 6:51 PM EST, 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Morristown TN 751 PM EDT FRI JUL 8 2016 .DISCUSSION...Updated forecast to remove a portion of Severe Thunderstorm Watch #357. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Chattanooga Airport, TN 75 95 72 91 / 30 30 20 40 Knoxville McGhee Tyson Airport, TN 73 91 70 89 / 60 20 20 30 Oak Ridge, TN 72 91 69 89 / 50 20 10 30 Tri Cities Airport, TN 68 88 63 87 / 60 20 0 10 && .MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NC...None. TN...None. VA...None. && MJB
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 222 PM EDT FRI JUL 8 2016 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-091830- 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- 222 PM EDT FRI JUL 8 2016 /122 PM CDT FRI JUL 8 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... ...SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FROM MID-AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY EVENING... ...TORRENTIAL RAINS WITH LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING IS ALSO POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... ANOTHER BROKEN LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE AND SOUTHEAST KENTUCKY THIS AFTERNOON...THEN MOVE EAST INTO EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. THE AIR-MASS ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS WILL BECOME QUITE MOIST AND UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON AHEAD OF THIS LINE. SOME OF THESE STORMS WILL BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE WITH THE MAIN CONCERN BEING DAMAGING WINDS...HAIL UP TO QUARTER SIZE...TORRENTIAL RAINS AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. THE GREATEST COVERAGE AND INTENSITY OF THESE STORMS WILL BE THROUGH 8 PM EDT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY...MAINLY ACROSS EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA. SOME STRONG STORMS ARE POSSIBLE PRODUCING GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY RAINS...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
712 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0558 PM HAIL 6 E BEAN STATION 36.34N 83.18W
07/08/2016 E1.00 INCH HAWKINS TN PUBLIC
AT THE DAVY CROCKETT CAMPGROUND.
&&
13PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
719 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0615 PM TSTM WND DMG CHURCH HILL 36.53N 82.71W
07/08/2016 HAWKINS TN PUBLIC
SEVERAL TREES DOWN.
&&
13PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
722 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0610 PM TSTM WND DMG GRAY 36.41N 82.48W
07/08/2016 WASHINGTON TN PUBLIC
TREES DOWN ALONG CRYSTAL SPRINGS ROAD.
&&
13PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
724 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0620 PM TSTM WND DMG JOHNSON CITY 36.33N 82.37W
07/08/2016 WASHINGTON TN BROADCAST MEDIA
ROOF PARTIALLY REMOVED AT CAMELOT CIRCLE.
&&
13PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
729 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0545 PM TSTM WND DMG 2 S PETROS 36.06N 84.45W
07/08/2016 MORGAN TN 911 CALL CENTER
TREES DOWN ALONG HWY 62 IN THE JOYNER COMMUNITY.
&&
13PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
734 PM EDT FRI JUL 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0630 PM TSTM WND GST ELIZABETHTON 36.34N 82.23W
07/08/2016 M62 MPH CARTER TN TRAINED SPOTTER
RECORDED ON A DAVIS WIND SENSOR. MULTIPLE TREES DOWN IN
THE AREA WITH POWER OUTAGES.
&&
13The Knoxville radar (KMRX), 133 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:53 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several trees were reported down at the Hiwassee Dam and in western sections of Hiwassee Village.
Several trees were downed in the southern part of the county and east of Murphy.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in North Carolina in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in North Carolina, July 2016
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: 635179, 635182.