Daytime heating on May 9, 2007 helped to develop scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. Some of the storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS MEG wrote it up.
Daytime heating on May 9, 2007 helped to develop scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. Some of the storms produced large hail and damaging winds.
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 May 9, 9:47 AM CST, 3 hours 43 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 1047 AM CDT WED MAY 9 2007 .UPDATE... 15Z SURFACE MAP SHOWED THE WARMEST TEMPS ACROSS THE U.S. OCCURRING OVER THE MIDSOUTH...WITH MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL REACHING 80 DEGREES AT 9 AM CDT. EXPECT TEMPERATURES RISES TO BEGIN SLOWING AS THE BULK OF THE LOW LEVEL MIXING HAS OCCURRED. MODIFIED 12Z SOUNDINGS SHOW HIGHS NEAR CURRENTLY FORECASTED VALUES. REGARDING SHORT TERM RAIN CHANCES... ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHERN MS THAT PERSISTED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR...THEN DISSIPATED ONCE MIXING SUFFICIENTLY DEEPENED. EXPECT THE BEST CHANCES FOR SURFACE BASED CONVECTION TO OCCUR SOUTHWEST OF THE MEMPHIS METRO THIS AFTERNOON...IN THE VICINITY OF THE SURFACE TO 850 MB THETA E AXIS. CURRENT FORECAST APPEARS ON TARGET. PWB && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 210 AM CDT WED MAY 9 2007/ DISCUSSION... MOISTURE RETURN HAS OCCURRED ACROSS THE AREA AS EXPECTED HOWEVER CONVECTION YESTERDAY WAS MUCH LESS THAN EXPECTED. APPEARS THE MAIN PROBLEM IS A COMBINATION OF AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY AND WEAK CAP OVER THE AREA. CONVECTION BLOSSOMED YESTERDAY ACROSS SOUTHERN ARKANSAS WHERE DEW POINTS WERE CLOSER TO 70 AND CAP WAS NOT AS STRONG. APPEARS CAP OVER MUCH OF THE MIDSOUTH TODAY WILL BE STRONG ONCE AGAIN AND DEW POINTS LIKELY NOT HIGH ENOUGH TO PRODUCE THE 1500-2000 J/KG ENVIRONMENT WHICH YESTERDAYS STORMS DEVELOPED IN. AS A RESULT...EXPECT COVERAGE TODAY TO BE LITTLE WITH THE BEST CHANCES SOUTHWEST OF MEMPHIS WHERE DEW POINTS ARE CLOSER TO 70. TIMING IS MORE LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON ALTHOUGH EARLY MORNING CONVECTION CAN NOT BE ENTIRELY RULED OUT AS WAS THE CASE YESTERDAY. SEVERE POTENTIAL IS VERY LOW TODAY AND BEYOND DUE TO LOW SHEAR ACROSS THE REGION. ON THURSDAY...THE RIDGE AXIS MOVES INTO ALABAMA AND CENTRAL TENNESSEE AND THE UPPER LOW MOVES INTO EAST TEXAS. AS A RESULT OF THE DISPLACEMENT OF THE RIDGE...EXPECT THAT THE CAP WOULD NOT BE AS STRONG THUS BETTER CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS. ON FRIDAY...THE UPPER LOW MOVES INTO THE CENTRAL GULF. THERE IS STILL A GOOD DEAL OF MOISTURE AROUND THE MID SOUTH AND THERE MAY BE JUST ENOUGH UPPER SUPPORT TO PRODUCE MORE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS. ONCE AGAIN...MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON WHERE DIURNAL HEATING CAN HELP TO WEAKEN THE CAP. ON SATURDAY THE UPPER LEVEL LOW BEGINS TO PULL AWAY FROM THE AREA AND DRIER AIR WILL FILTER IN FROM THE NORTH. BETTER RAIN CHANCES EXIST TOWARDS THE SOUTH WHERE THE DRIER AIR WILL BE LATER IN ARRIVING. THIS MORNINGS GFS RUN SHOWS THE DRIER AIR PUSHING ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE REGION WITH ZONAL CONDITIONS DEVELOPING FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE PERIOD. HAVE REMOVED RAIN CHANCES FOR SUNDAY DUE TO THE DRY AIR OVER THE REGION AND AM UNWILLING TO CONTINUE RAIN CHANCES IN THE BEYOND SUNDAY SINCE GFS IS LIKELY HAVING DIFFICULTY RESOLVING TRUE SYSTEMS IN THE ZONAL FLOW. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MEM 89 70 87 68 / 20 10 50 20 MKL 89 62 85 64 / 10 10 40 20 JBR 89 65 85 65 / 30 20 50 20 TUP 88 63 87 66 / 10 10 50 20 && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. MO...NONE. MS...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 328 AM CDT WED MAY 9 2007 ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115- MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>021-048>055-088>092-101030- ALCORN-BENTON(MS)-CALHOUN-CARROLL-CHESTER-CHICKASAW-CLAY-COAHOMA- CRAIGHEAD-CRITTENDEN-CROCKETT-CROSS-DESOTO-DECATUR-DUNKLIN-DYER- FAYETTE-GIBSON-GREENE-HARDEMAN-HARDIN-HAYWOOD-HENDERSON-HENRY- ITAWAMBA-LAFAYETTE-LAKE-LAUDERDALE-LAWRENCE-LEE(AR)-LEE(MS)- MADISON-MARSHALL-MCNAIRY-MISSISSIPPI-MONROE-OBION-PANOLA-PEMISCOT- PHILLIPS-POINSETT-PONTOTOC-PRENTISS-QUITMAN-RANDOLPH-SHELBY- ST. FRANCIS-TALLAHATCHIE-TATE-TIPPAH-TIPTON-TISHOMINGO-TUNICA- UNION-WEAKLEY-YALOBUSHA- 328 AM CDT WED MAY 9 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST ARKANSAS... THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL...NORTH MISSISSIPPI...AND WEST TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 131 PM CDT WED MAY 9 2007 MSZ011-091900- QUITMAN MS- 131 PM CDT WED MAY 9 2007 THIS SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ALERT IS FOR...QUITMAN COUNTY. A STRONG THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING PEA TO DIME SIZE HAIL AND 40 TO 50 MPH WINDS WAS LOCATED OVER DARLING AT 131 PM CDT...MOVING SOUTH AT 10 MPH. DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS ALSO POSSIBLE WITH THIS THUNDERSTORM. PEOPLE IN QUITMAN COUNTY SHOULD MONITOR THIS STORM CLOSELY..
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:30 UTC.
3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Lightning struck a tree near Pine Grove, killing 10 cows. The Brangus cattle were huddled under one large oak tree when the lightning bolt struck the tree. The lightning blasted bark from the tree as far as 200 feet away.
Straight line winds produced some minor roof damage to a home and knocked down some trees and power poles near the North Mississippi Medical Center, 1 to 2 miles south of Tupelo. The Tupelo campus of Itawamba Community College sustained roof and water damage to the GED building. In addition, more trees were knocked down 4 miles east of Tupelo.
Straight line winds uprooted trees and blew over more trees in Verona.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2007Every state in 2007This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, May 2007
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: 33009, 32943, 32945, 32948, 32950, 32953.