Sunday Storms Cause Downpours & Damage

Sunday afternoon was a busy one in the Channel 3 Storm Alert Center. Clusters of storms that originated in Kentucky, blasted southward across I-40 and into the area as early as 2:00 pm. By late in the afternoon we had these storm reports:

• Few trees down in Madisonville. Monroe County, TN
• Numerous trees and power lines down in Benton. Polk County, TN
• Numerous trees and power lines down in Cleveland. Bradley County, TN.
• The Electric Power Board at one point had 4,000 customers without power in and around Chattanooga.
• Peak wind gust at Lovell Field, 39 mph with 1.11" of rain.
• Peak wind gust here at Channel 3, 33 mph with 1.21" of rain.

But as you can see from the above Doppler radar rainfall estimate, those amounts were not uniform across the area. Our skywatchers had amounts ranging from 1/10" at Ringgold, and Mowbray Mountain to 1.3" in Athens.

Al Clayton our skywatcher in Soddy-Daisy said he was watching the radar all day and it looked like an umbrella was over his house. He didn't get a drop, and the doppler radar estimates north of Chattanooga show that big gap where nothing fell.

There should be some more scattered storms covering much of the area Monday afternoon. Then Tuesday's storms should form mainly south of Chattanooga. Wednesday should be dry for most areas before more hit and miss storms pop up on Thursday and Friday. Highs in the upper 80s to low 90s through Friday with overnight lows near 70.

I had less than 1/10" at my house, so I'm hoping for some more on Monday. Average amounts may tally up to 1 inch by Friday across the Tennessee Valley with locally heavier amounts.