Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee

2002 tornadoes in Tennessee

30 tornadoes touched down in Tennessee in 2002, 55 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 17 people and injured 117.

2001 2003 The whole country in 2002

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Tennessee in 2002

April 28 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 282:40 AM CDTF1Lake3.575$750,000
April 284:00 AM CDTF0Henry5.050$50,000
April 287:34 AM CDTF3Rutherford3.235031$2.3 million
April 287:45 AM CDTF2Cannon0.930
April 283:42 PM CDTF0Maury0.110

April 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 3011:26 PM CDTF0Humphreys0.16

May 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 111:18 PM EDTF1Carter0.150$100,000

November 9 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 910:05 PM CSTF2Tipton to AR50.64401$6.6 million
November 910:15 PM CSTF2Crockett4.0220$750,000
November 910:26 PM CSTF2Carroll10.022026$500,000

November 10 20 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 1012:10 AM CSTF1Madison4.0220$3.0 million
November 1012:50 AM CSTF0Montgomery0.120
November 101:00 AM CSTF1Montgomery0.34002$100,000
November 101:05 AM CSTF0Robertson0.120
November 102:00 AM CSTF2Sumner2.69006$500,000
November 106:35 PM ESTF0Morgan1.525$20,000
November 106:40 PM ESTF1Scott4.150$110,000
November 105:40 PM CSTF0Carroll0.333$10,000
November 105:42 PM CSTF1Coffee4.150
November 105:45 PM CSTF2Bedford5.05003$150,000
November 106:50 PM ESTF1Scott4.250$130,000
November 105:55 PM CSTF0Madison0.366$50,000
November 106:52 PM CSTF2Coffee12.3450224$250,000
November 107:08 PM CSTF1Cumberland3.4400
November 108:31 PM ESTF3Morgan8.3300728$970,000
November 108:54 PM ESTF2Anderson5.575$210,000
November 108:10 PM CSTF2Van Buren2.9100$70,000
November 108:30 PM CSTF1Bledsoe6.2100$100,000
November 108:46 PM CSTF0Cumberland0.120
November 109:43 PM CSTF3Cumberland12.2900418$500,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Tennessee since 1950Warnings in force in TennesseeThe live radar over Tennessee

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.