As a line of thunderstorms moved eastward onto the Cumberland Plateau during the evening of May 23, 2024, they strengthened and became severe. The most significant damage was reported in White County where a microburst with estimated winds of 90 mph uprooted numerous 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 OHX wrote it up.
As a line of thunderstorms moved eastward onto the Cumberland Plateau during the evening of May 23, 2024, they strengthened and became severe. The most significant damage was reported in White County where a microburst with estimated winds of 90 mph uprooted numerous trees. Elsewhere, heavy rain in Clay County caused several roads to close due to high water.
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 May 23, 3:33 PM CST, 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Nashville TN 433 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024 ...New UPDATE... .UPDATE... Issued at 421 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024 We recently cleared Nashville Metro and areas south of Metro from the severe watch. It looks like after this early evening batch of unimpressive storms moves off to the east we will have a generally quiet evening across the Mid State. Later in the night a few showers could pop up as wave approaches form the southwest, but most areas will have quiet conditions with patches of fog late tonight. Friday will bring development of scattered storms again. Some of the storms that bubble up across our area may be briefly severe during the midday and afternoon and most of the area is under a marginal risk. There may be a greater severe risk with storms coming in from the west Friday evening, and SPC has placed our western counties under a slight risk for this potential. There is a lot of uncertainty how the various storm areas will develop and play out. && .SHORT TERM... (Rest of today through Saturday Night) Issued at 1159 AM CDT Thu May 23 2024 We are catching a break from the convection at this time. The first round of showers and tstms just moved off of our northern Plateau. Mow we are awaiting some development upstream. Also, we are warming into the lower 80s now and our convective temperatures will be on approach. Still expecting shower and thunderstorm development a little later. Capes are quite impressive again today with models showing up to 3000 j/kg. Thus, strong to severe tstms will again be possible this afternoon. 850 mb speeds are rather low at 20 kts so storm structure will need to be sufficient. Otherwise, isolated 2 inch rainfall amounts could pose some flood problems depending on whether or not previously soaked areas are impacted. Those areas appear to be our northwest and also areas just west of the northern Plateau. Moving on, tonight, a shortwave will arrive late and allow some convection to redevelop, especially across our south. Following this, Friday looks somewhat similar to today. A weakening boundary will be located just to our west by afternoon. But the models are picking up on some mid and upper level late day ridging. This also transcends to larger subsidence by late in the day. So, it looks as though we will see morning convection on into the early to mid afternoon, before tapering off. Severity of storms will be primarily cape dependent. So the marginal risk looks reasonable for hail and high winds. Saturday looks as though we will catch a bit of a break. There will still be isolated to scattered activity around. The marginal risk will remain as higher capes are expected in the afternoon. For the near term temps, warm and muggy. Highs 80s, lows 60s. && .LONG TERM... (Sunday through next Thursday) Issued at 1159 AM CDT Thu May 23 2024 In the extended forecast, a fairly strong frontal boundary with upper support will move through late Sunday night. With the more than sufficient instability during the day on Sunday, severe weather becomes more likely. Furthermore, organization looks likely and speeds at 850 mb will be in excess of 40 kts. I will say that the better chance of severe may hold off until evening though when the pre frontal organization picks up. Damaging winds, large hail and a few tornadoes will all be possible. Average qpf amounts are just over a half inch but of course, isolated totals could be in that 1-2 inch range. Showers and thunderstorms will finally move out of the picture by late Monday. The following weather pattern looks nicer with a cooler surface high building southward through the week. The upper levels keep the deeper troughing to our northeast but the shallow push of cooler air will still cool our temps down to seasonal levels through the rest of the period. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1253 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024 Showers and thunderstorms roaming around Middle TN this afternoon. If one directly affects a mid-state terminal, brief IFR conditions are possible, along with gusty winds. Otherwise, VFR with light southwest winds are expected. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Nashville 66 83 68 87 / 30 40 50 50 Clarksville 65 83 67 85 / 20 40 40 40 Crossville 61 78 60 81 / 60 50 50 60 Columbia 65 81 65 86 / 30 50 50 50 Cookeville 63 79 63 82 / 60 50 40 60 Jamestown 61 78 61 81 / 70 50 50 60 Lawrenceburg 65 80 66 85 / 30 50 50 50 Murfreesboro 64 83 65 86 / 40 50 40 50 Waverly 64 82 66 85 / 20 50 40 50 && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && UPDATE.......13 SHORT TERM...21 LONG TERM....21 AVIATION.....Unger
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Nashville TN
204 PM CDT Thu May 23 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0202 PM Hail Algood 36.20N 85.45W
05/23/2024 M0.25 Inch Putnam TN Emergency Mngr
&&The Nashville radar (KOHX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:47 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain across Clay County forced the closure of several roadways due to high water. Damages are unknown.
A microburst occurred across portions of eastern White County. Main damage was uprooted trees and some tops of trees snapped off. Minor structural damage to a carport and fencing with trees on it was noted. Maximum wind gusts were estimated to be around 90 mph. Damages are a rough estimate.
An ASOS station at the Crossville airport measured a wind gust of 58 mph with a severe thunderstorm.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, May 2024
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: 1171785, 1171784, 1171783.