A strengthening low pressure system moved toward the Southern Appalachian Region generating very strong wind gusts in the higher terrain along the Tennessee and North Carolina border.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 strengthening low pressure system moved toward the Southern Appalachian Region generating very strong wind gusts in the higher terrain along the Tennessee and North Carolina border.
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 Mar 30, 8:38 PM EST, 1 hour 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
938 PM EDT WED MAR 30 2016
.DISCUSSION...BULK OF THE PRECIP STILL WELL OFF TO OUR WEST AND
MAKING ONLY SLOW PROGRESS EAST. WILL DELAY ONSET OF PRECIP A
BIT...BUT OTHERWISE WILL LEAVE POPS AS THEY ARE. ALREADY GETTING
WIND GUSTS TO ADVISORY CRITERIA IN SOME OF THE USUAL MOUNTAIN AND
FOOTHILL LOCATIONS...SO WILL MOVE UP START OF WIND ADVISORY.
OTHERWISE...JUST SOME TWEAKS TO TEMPS AND DEW POINTS. UPDATE OUT
SOON.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
CHATTANOOGA AIRPORT, TN 59 72 60 73 / 40 90 90 30
KNOXVILLE MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT, TN 58 72 59 72 / 20 90 90 50
OAK RIDGE, TN 57 71 59 73 / 30 90 90 50
TRI CITIES AIRPORT, TN 52 70 57 71 / 10 90 90 60
&&
.MRX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NC...NONE.
TN...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM EDT THURSDAY FOR BLOUNT SMOKY MOUNTAINS-
COCKE SMOKY MOUNTAINS-JOHNSON-NORTHWEST CARTER-SEVIER SMOKY
MOUNTAINS-SOUTHEAST CARTER-SOUTHEAST GREENE-SOUTHEAST
MONROE-UNICOI.
VA...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 8 PM EDT THURSDAY FOR RUSSELL-WASHINGTON-
WISE.
&&HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN 300 PM EDT WED MAR 30 2016 NCZ060-061-TNZ012>018-035>047-067>074-081>087-098>102-VAZ001-002- 005-006-008-311900- 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- 300 PM EDT WED MAR 30 2016 /200 PM CDT WED MAR 30 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST NORTH CAROLINA...EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE ALONG THE EAST TENNESSEE AND SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINS LATE TONIGHT INTO THE 15 TO 30 MPH RANGE...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER GUSTS OVER 40 MPH. A WIND ADVISORY IN IN EFFECT FOR THESE AREAS BEGINNING AT 2 AM EDT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... A STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AND SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS THURSDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS EXPECTED ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING. A WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR THESE AREAS THROUGH 8 PM EDT ON THURSDAY. THE AIR MASS AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM WILL BECOME MOIST AND UNSTABLE WITH STRONG WINDS ALOFT. WIDESPREAD SHOWERS WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT....ALONG WITH LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ARE POSSIBLE LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. MAIN CONCERN WILL THESE STORMS WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL...BUT ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE PLATEAU AND SOUTHEAST TENNESSEE. THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF QUESTIONS WITH THIS SYSTEM...PLEASE STAY TUNED TO LATER FORECASTS...FOR FURTHER DETAILS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A 76 mph gust was measured at the Camp Creek wind tower.
A 62 mph gust was measured at the UT field station near Greenbriar.
A wind gust of 83 mph was recorded two miles west of Gatlinburg at the Cove Mountain wind tower.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, March 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: 617489, 617488, 617487.