Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 23, 2002

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, July 23, 2002
Start: 2002-07-23T14:00
End: 2002-07-23T16:00
Location: Mississippi

July 23, 2002 · NWS MEG · 7 events in 6 counties and zones

6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $31,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 7

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 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 Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 23, 1:45 PM CST, 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 1:45 PM CST, 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
245 PM CDT TUE JUL 23 2002

WARM AND STICKY DAY ACROSS THE MID SOUTH. EARLY AFTN SFC DEWPT 63 AT
SGF...76 AT MEM. SAFE BET THAT CDFNT IS SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN. STORM
COVERAGE NEVER REALLY PANNED OUT THE WAY WE PLANNED...THOUGH
DEVELOPMENT HAS NOW OCCURRED OVER SERN HALF OF CWFA. THE FRONT IS
NOT THROUGH...SO DONT THINK WERE OUT OF THE WOODS JUST YET.

CDFNT WILL MAKE SLOW PROGRESS SOUTH AND EAST BUT IS PROBABLY ALREADY
IN THE PROCESS OF BECOMING DIFFUSE...AND WILL BE WASHED OUT BY
TOMORROW AFTERNOON AT THE LATEST. FIRST PD POPS TO BE BASED ON RADAR
TRENDS MOSTLY...WILL LIKELY LEAVE SECOND PD POPS SIMILAR TO PREV
FORECAST. THEN THE STORM TRACK SHIFTS NORTH AND NOTHING HAS MUCH OF
A CHANCE OF GETTING HERE. SO WE GO BACK TO WHAT WE EXPECT IN THE
SUMMER...HAZY HOT AND HUMID...STARTING FRIDAY.

CANT RULE OUT A STORM OR TWO ANY DAY...BUT PLAN TO LEAVE FORECAST
DRY AFTER SECOND PERIOD DUE TO LIMITED...IF ANY...COVERAGE. GUT
FEELING IS IF ITS GOING TO RAIN AT ALL...IT WOULD BE THU...GFS/ETA
BOTH INDICATE ONE LAST U/L IMPULSE MOVING THROUGH BEFORE U/L RIDGE
FIRMLY ESTABLISHES FOR THE WEEKEND. AGAIN THOUGH...COVERAGE WOULD
PROBABLY BE LIMITED...AND SO WILL NOT INCLUDE POPS IN FCST ATTM. IN
EXTENDED...GFS TRIES TO CREATE WEAKNESS IN RIDGE VIA U/L LOW
APPARENTLY CAUSED BY FEEDBACK. SO WILL KEEP WARM AND DRY.

WITH RIDGE FIRMLY OVERHEAD...UPPER 90S FOR HIGHS ARE NOT OUT OF THE
QUESTION OVER THE WEEKEND WITH HEAT INDICES 105-110. WELCOME BACK TO
SUMMER.

PRELIM DIGITS...
MEM  74/90/73/92/75/94  22-111
MKL  71/89/67/90/70/92  221111
JBR  71/91/68/93/72/94  21-111
TUP  74/90/71/90/72/93  ?41111

.MEG...NONE.

JE/23

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Alcorn

When: July 23, 2:00 PM CST to 2:05 PM CST
Where: Alcorn County, Corinth
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Property damage: $10
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 34.933, -88.517

Thunderstorm Wind, Marshall

When: July 23, 2:25 PM CST to 2:30 PM CST
Where: Marshall County, Potts Camp
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 34.650, -89.317

A few trees were knocked down.

Thunderstorm Wind, Pontotoc

When: July 23, 2:30 PM CST to 2:35 PM CST
Where: Pontotoc County, 5 mi N of Thaxton
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 34.383, -89.167

A few trees were blown down.

Thunderstorm Wind, Union

When: July 23, 2:40 PM CST to 2:45 PM CST
Where: Union County, 4 mi W of New Albany
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 34.500, -89.067

Some trees were blown down.

Thunderstorm Wind, Lafayette

When: July 23, 2:45 PM CST to 2:50 PM CST
Where: Lafayette County, Cambridge
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: UTILITY COMPANY
Coordinates: 34.450, -89.367

Some trees and power lines were knocked down.

Thunderstorm Wind, Lee

When: July 23, 3:30 PM CST to 3:35 PM CST
Where: Lee County, Baldwyn
Property damage: $1,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 34.500, -88.633

Several large tree limbs were blown down.

Thunderstorm Wind, Lafayette

When: July 23, 3:55 PM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where: Lafayette County, Lafayette Spgs
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: UTILITY COMPANY
Coordinates: 34.317, -89.267

Several power lines were blown down.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Mississippi in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Mississippi, July 2002

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: 5311750, 5311751, 5311755, 5311752, 5311754, 5311756, 5311753.