Warm and humid conditions out ahead of an approaching cold front allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon and evening hours of June 12th and 13th. Some storms quickly became severe and produced large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding.
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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.
Warm and humid conditions out ahead of an approaching cold front allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop during the afternoon and evening hours of June 12th and 13th. Some storms quickly became severe and produced large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding.
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 Jun 12, 11:01 AM CST, 2 hours 39 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 1201 PM CDT THU JUN 12 2008 .UPDATE... UPDATED TO EXPAND THE MENTION OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF WEST TN...NORTH MS INTO PART OF EAST- CENTRAL AR BASED ON CURRENT RADAR TRENDS. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG TO SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS BEING THE MAIN THREAT. MARGINALLY SEVERE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE ALTHOUGH A FREEZING LEVEL NEAR 15000 FT AND A WET BULB ZERO NEAR 13000 FT SHOULD REDUCE THE HAIL THREAT. JCL && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1013 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008/ UPDATE... A STRONG H5 RIDGE OF 5900 M WAS CENTERED ALONG THE NC COAST AND STRETCHED WESTWARD ACROSS THE MID-SOUTH. THIS RIDGE WILL ONCE AGAIN SUPPRESS MOST CONVECTION ACROSS THE AREA. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY DOES SHOW AN INCREASE IN MID AND HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE SPREADING INTO NORTHEAST MS FROM THE SOUTHEAST. EXPANDED THE SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS A LITTLE TO INCLUDE THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF WEST TN ALONG WITH MUCH OF NORTHEAST MS. TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO ONCE AGAIN CLIMB TO ABOUT 5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL ACROSS MUCH OF THE MID-SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING INTO THE LOWER 90S OVER MOST OF THE AREA. SURFACE DEWPOINTS HAVE INCREASED A LITTLE SINCE YESTERDAY...AND WILL BE IN THE UPPER 60S TO AROUND 70 THIS AFTERNOON...MAKING FOR MORE HOT CONDITIONS TODAY. SKIES WILL BE PARTLY CLOUDY THIS AFTERNOON WITH SCATTERED TO BROKEN CUMULUS DEVELOPMENT. HAVE ALREADY MADE THE APPROPRIATE CHANGES TO THE GRIDS AND UPDATED THE ZONES. JCL PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 250 AM CDT THU JUN 12 2008/ DISCUSSION... SKIES ARE CLEAR ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA EARLY THIS MORNING WITH TEMPERATURES MAINLY IN THE 70S. COLD FRONT REMAINS WEST OF THE REGION EXTENDING FROM CENTRAL MINNESOTA THROUGH NORTHEAST KANSAS AND INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. WITH COLD FRONT FAR ENOUGH TO OUR WEST DO NOT SEE MUCH IN THE WAY OF THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT TODAY. SOME ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI WITH DAYTIME HEATING AND WHERE CONDITIONS ARE A LITTLE MORE UNSTABLE. TONIGHT SHOULD REMAIN DRY AS COLD FRONT DOES INCH CLOSER TO THE FORECAST AREA BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO TRIGGER ANY THUNDERSTORMS. BY FRIDAY...THE COLD FRONT SHOULD BE CLOSE ENOUGH TO PRODUCE SOME SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE FORECAST AREA. THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER OVER THE NORTHERN PART OF THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. THE COLD FRONT MOVES SLOWLY AND WEAKENS THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY SO THERE WILL BE A CONTINUED CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. BY SATURDAY NIGHT...THE FRONT WEAKENS AND MOVES OUT OF THE REGION WITH THE RISK OF THUNDERSTORMS ENDING. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION BY SUNDAY BRINGING DRY WEATHER FOR SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT. ANOTHER WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES TOWARD THE REGION BY MONDAY AND INTO THE FORECAST AREA FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY SO THERE WILL ANOTHER CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS BACK INTO THE REGION BY TUESDAY NIGHT SO DRY WEATHER RETURNS FOR TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MEM 75 91 73 88 / 10 30 40 40 MKL 72 88 70 85 / 10 30 50 40 JBR 73 92 70 88 / 10 30 50 40 TUP 72 90 71 87 / 10 30 30 40 && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. MO...NONE. MS...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
The Memphis radar (KNQA), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:39 UTC.
1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rain caused a warehouse roof to collapse on Highway 305 just south of Highway 78 in Olive Branch. Doppler radar estimated 1.75 inches of rain in 15 minutes.
Straight line winds snapped 17 trees in Olive Branch.
Heavy rain caused widespread flooding in Pittsboro. The local jail was flooded.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, June 2008
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: 120729, 120750, 120767.