Severe weather was possible in Middle Tennessee Monday night into Tuesday morning as a round of strong-to-severe thunderstorms moved through the region, with the main threat expected between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Another round of storms was expected Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
Monday afternoon, isolated strong storms could develop in northwest Middle Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky before the broader line of storms arrived Monday evening and continued overnight through Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. The severe threat was highest along and west of I-65, where the risk was rated 2/5, while the Plateau was at 1/5.
Heavy rain and damaging winds were the main threats, but the storms could also bring some hail and a couple of spin-up tornadoes. WSMV said it is important to prioritize tools that can wake you up if you decide to go to sleep, and urged viewers to have multiple ways to be alerted of incoming severe weather.
That warning matters because the weather was being framed as a First Alert Weather Day for late Monday into Tuesday, with a second First Alert Weather Day set for Tuesday night. The timing puts the biggest risk squarely overnight, when many people are asleep and less likely to see warnings or outdoor conditions changing fast.
People were also urged to have a plan in place and know where their safe place is if severe weather is coming their way. The WSMV4 First Alert Weather App can alert users before trouble arrives, but the advice was to make sure locations and notifications were turned on so alerts could reach them.
The question now is not whether storms will return — they will — but how much of Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky gets hit by the strongest line and whether overnight warnings are enough to keep people awake and moving to safety.
