Flood, Jackson
- When
- May 11, 7:00 PM CST to May 27, 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Jackson forecast zone
- Reported by
- AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
- Coordinates
- 37.785, -89.382 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flood in Illinois, May 11 to 27, 2001
High water on the Mississippi River backed into the Big Muddy River, causing the river gage at Murphysboro to rise slightly above flood stage on May 11. The crest on May 12 was only a few inches above the 16-foot flood stage at Murphysboro.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
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.
What happened
The episode as NWS PAH wrote it up.
High water on the Mississippi River backed into the Big Muddy River, causing the river gage at Murphysboro to rise slightly above flood stage on May 11. The crest on May 12 was only a few inches above the 16-foot flood stage at Murphysboro. River levels remained high on the Mississippi River for most of the month, keeping the Big Muddy River above flood stage through the 27th. A second higher crest of 18.79 feet occurred at Murphysboro on the 22nd. Both crests resulted in only minor flooding of agricultural bottomland.
What forecasters said that day
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 Paducah, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 11, 1:00 PM CST, 6 hours earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 11, 1:00 PM CST, 6 hours before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PADUCAH KY 200 PM CDT FRI MAY 11 2001 COMPLEX ARRAY OF PARAMETERS TO TRACK THAT MAY INFLUENCE PAHS 1ST PERIOD WX. ONE ITEM OF CONCERN IS ONGOING SEMO CONVECTION...WITH LATEST IR TRENDS SHOWING TOPS STARTING TO COOL OUT OF WHAT WAS OTHERWISE THIS AM WARM TOPPED CONVECTION. THIS EVOLUTION WAS OCCURRING/LIKELY AIDED BY NE AR VORT MAX THAT IS MOVING EAST...BUT IT IS FORECAST TO SHEAR OUT WITHIN DIFLUENT 1000-500MB THICKNESS FIELD. EFFECTS OF THIS DIFLUENCE SEEN MOST DRAMATICALLY BY SW FEED OF COOLING TOPS FM MAIN BODY OF CONVECTION OVER SW MO/NW AR. ONE EFFECT OF EARLY PM SEMO CONVECTION COULD BE TO NEUTRALIZE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERATELY UNSTABLE STORM ENVIRONMENT OVER SEMO/FAR WKY. MAIN AREA OF CONCERN TONIGHT THEN BECOMES NRN/ERN PTNS FA...WHERE VIGOROUS SHORT WAVE UPSTREAM WILL DRIVE COLD FRONT ACROSS FA LATE THIS PM/EARLY THIS EVENING. BASED ON LATEST VISIBLE SATELLITE TRENDS...IT APPEARS THIS IS ALSO THE AREA WHERE BEST LOW LAYER DESTABILIZATION WL OCCUR...SO WL LIKELY GO WITH HIGHEST POPS THERE...TAPERING OFF TO LOWER CHC SOUTH AND WEST. ITS ALSO WHERE OUR HIGHEST CONCERN FOR SVR THREAT WL BE...THOUGH ENTIRE CWA IS JUSTIFIABLY IN SLGT RISK. ETA/AVN HAVE BEEN SYNCHRONIZING LAST COUPLE OF RUNS AND APPEAR TO BE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT NOW...WITH FROPA THRU JUST ABOUT ENTIRE FA BY 06Z. SOME CONCERN HERE AS BOTH MODELS NOW HINT AT BREAKING OFF PRIMARY MRH FIELDS TO OUR NORTH AND SOUTH...A CLIMATOLOGICALLY RATHER FREQUENT OCCURRENCE. HOWEVER WITH APPROACHING COLD FRONT ENCOUNTERING L-M60S SURFACE TDS IN MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS...AM INCLINED TO LEAVE POPS AS IS AND NOT DOWNGRADE GOING NOS...AS NUMERICAL GUIDANCE IS STARTING TO SUGGEST. AFTER FROPA WX PICTURE IS FAIRLY STRAIGHT-FORWARD WITH SURFACE HIGH BUILDING OVERHEAD PROVIDING COOL/DRY WEEKEND. SUSPECT THAT DEVELOPMENT OF NW FLOW ALOFT WL YIELD A FEW MORE CLOUDS THAN PERHAPS MODELS ARE SUGGESTING INTO EXTENDED PTN OF FORECAST...BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR ANY POP...AT LEAST TIL SURFACE HIGH SHIFTS EAST AND NEXT FRONT COMES INTO PLAY TUE. AVN BASED GUIDANCE CONTINUES WITH COOLER APPROACH TO POST COLD FRONTAL TEMPS AND TYPICALLY HANDLES THAT SCENARIO BETTER THAN FWC...WHICH HAS BEEN GOING FCST STRATEGY AND WELL CONTINUE. .PAH...NONE. DH
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flood
- Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail in Texas, May 11 to 12, 2001
- Flooding in Iowa, May 11 to 14, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 11 to 12, 2001
- Wildfire in California, May 11, 2001
- Hail in Texas, May 11, 2001
- Flood and Hail in Oklahoma, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, May 11, 2001
- Hail in Kansas, May 11, 2001
- Flooding in Missouri, May 11 to 13, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 11, 2001
More
Every storm in Illinois in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Illinois, May 2001
Sources
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: 5243365.