Strong Wind — Hamilton, Tennessee

2011-09-05 · Hamilton, Tennessee

Event narrative

A woman was killed when a tree fell on a car the woman was trying to relocate in her driveway. Her house was in the East Brainerd area or about 6 miles ESE of downtown Chattanooga and about 2 miles south of the airport.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Lee had moved northward from the Gulf of Mexico to southwest of Atlanta, GA. Heavy rains had moved into the region with a long duration of rains in the Chattanooga area. As of midnight EDT Monday night/Tuesday morning, 9.5' of rain had fallen over the past 30 hours. The rain-soaked grounds made trees more susceptible to toppling.

Winds at the Chattanooga airport were from the north at 21G31kt near the time of the incident.

Wider weather episode

Severe convection formed along an outflow boundary which originated over the higher terrain along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. The outflow boundary was strengthened by a strong gradient in pressure between Tropical Storm Lee over the Lower Mississippi Valley and higher pressure over the Middle Atlantic Coast. In addition, dry air in the lower levels of the atmosphere helped generate strong downdrafts within the individual storms.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 349897. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.