Flooding in Mississippi, June 1 to 17, 2011

Name: Flooding in Mississippi, June 1 to 17, 2011
Start: 2011-06-01T00:00
End: 2011-06-17T23:00
Location: Mississippi

June 1 to 17, 2011 · NWS JAN · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

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: $359,000
Crop damage: $600,000
Events: 4

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 JAN wrote it up.

The flood of 2011 had its birth around the end of March when heavy rainfall of 2 to 5 inches fell across Arkansas, Southeast Missouri, and the Ohio River Valley. The Mississippi River crested well above flood stage at Cairo around the middle of March and at flood stage at Vicksburg around the end of the month. The river receded until early April when 2 to 5 inches of rain fell over North Kentucky and the Ohio River prompting the river to rise once again. Several moderate to heavy rainfall events occurred during the month adding to the already overflowing tributaries of the Ohio River. Excessively heavy rainfall from 5 to 20 inches occurred from April 22nd to the 27th across northern Arkansas, southern Missouri, and up the Ohio River Valley. This produced the greatest surge in the river levels. During the following week, the first week of May, an additional 3 to 10 inches of rainfall occurred across Arkansas and southern Missouri, north to the Ohio River Valley. Rainfall for the two week period was over 800 percent of normal. These rainfall events, along with a moderate to major flood moving down the Upper Mississippi River from a late March snow melt combined to produce river crests above the 1937, 1973, and the 2008 flood levels. Record flooding occurred at Vicksburg and Natchez.

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 Jackson, MS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 31, 7:19 PM CST, 4 hours 41 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 7:19 PM CST, 4 hours 41 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
819 PM CDT TUE MAY 31 2011

.UPDATE...ONLY SLIGHT TWEAKS MADE TO GOING FORECAST TO ACCOUNT FOR
LATEST HOURLY OBSERVATIONS AND TRENDS. DID BUMP UP LOW TEMPERATURES
ONE TO TWO DEGREES IN SOME LOCATIONS FOR WEDNESDAY BUT STUCK CLOSE
WITH GUIDANCE THAT ADVERTISED LOWS VERY SIMILAR TO THIS MORNINGS
OBSERVATIONS GIVEN NEAR COPY OF TEMP/DEWPOINT SPREADS AT THIS HOUR
COMPARED TO YESTERDAY AND FEEL UPPER 60S ARE CERTAINLY REASONABLE.

FOR WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...ANTICIPATE ANOTHER HOT DAY AS TEMPERATURES
WILL PEAK ANOTHER COUPLE OF DEGREES HOTTER THAN TODAY WITH READINGS
TOPPING OUT IN THE UPPER 90S ACROSS ALL LOCATIONS. A WEAK DISTURBANCE
CAUGHT IN NORTHEAST FLOW WILL TRAVERSE THE NORTHEAST GULF...COUPLED
WITH A SEA-BREEZE AND AN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT...SOME SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS COULD BE POSSIBLE ALONG EXTREME SOUTHERN LOCATIONS OF
THE CWFA. CONFIDENCE IS NOT HIGH HOWEVER...GIVEN STRONG RIDGING STILL
PRESENT AND LOWER OBSERVED PWATS THAN MODELS CURRENTLY DEPICT...WILL
HINDER NORTHWARD EXTEND OF SHOWERS/THUNDER IF ANY ARE ABLE TO FORM AT
ALL. UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW CAN BE FOUND BELOW AND UPDATES
ARE OUT. /ALLEN/

&&

.AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS MOST SITES THROUGH THE
TAF PERIOD WITH THE EXCEPTION SE AND E-CNRL AREAS AS SOME 4 TO 5 SM
VISIBILITIES AND BR COULD BE POSSIBLE NEAR THE DAWN HOURS WEDNESDAY.
VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL AT ALL SITES BY 9 TO 10 AM WEDNESDAY
MORNING AS ANOTHER EXPANSIVE 4 TO 5 KFT SCT CUMULUS CLOUD DECK
DEVELOPS BY LATE MORNING ACROSS THE AREA AND SLOWLY LIFTING TO 6 TO 7
KFT SCT TO FEW CU DECK BY LATE AFTERNOON. BEST CHANCE FOR ANY RAIN
AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE ACROSS EXTREME S AND SE AREAS
(KHBG/KPIB/KMCB) BUT WITH SUCH LIMITED TO POSSIBLY NO COVERAGE
EXPECTED...HAVE NOT INCLUDED IN TAFS AT THIS TIME./ALLEN/

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL/

DISCUSSION...
SFC HIGH PRESSURE IS ANCHORED OVER THE SRN APPALACHIANS THIS
AFTERNOON WITH A SFC COLD FRONT DRAPED TO THE NW OF THE ARKLAMISS. IT
EXTENDS FROM THE GREAT LAKES REGION SOUTHWESTWARD INTO SRN ARKANSAS.
CLOUD COVER ASSOCIATED WITH DECAYING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS
GRADUALLY MOVING EASTWARD...BUT IS MEETING SOME RESISTANCE FROM THE
UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE IN PLACE ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST.

TEMPERATURES ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI HAVE WARMED
INTO THE UPPER 80S AND LOWER 90S UNDER PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES. AN
EXPANSIVE CU FIELD HAS DEVELOPED THIS AFTERNOON AS SEEN ON VISIBLE
SATELLITE IMAGERY...BUT LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CONVECTION IS EXPECTED
WITH THE STRENGTH OF THE UPPER/SFC HIGH PRESSURE IN PLACE ACROSS THE
REGION.

FOR TONIGHT...LINGERING CLOUDS FROM THE COLD FRONT TO THE WEST WILL
STREAM IN OVERHEAD. A DRY FORECAST IS EXPECTED...WITH MUCH OF THE
CLOUD COVER DISSIPATING AFTER SUNSET. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL NOT OFFER
MUCH RELIEF FROM THE HEAT WITH TEMPERATURES ONLY DIPPING INTO THE
UPPER 60S TO NEAR 70. THERE COULD ALSO BE SOME LIGHT PATCHY FOG
ACROSS THE CWA...BUT SINCE IT WILL BE VERY PATCHY WILL NOT MENTION IN
ZONES ATTM.

AS THE UPPER HIGH RETROGRADES SOUTHWESTWARD OVER THE AREA...
TEMPERATURES THROUGH LATE THIS WEEK WILL WARM INTO THE UPPER 90S TO
NEAR 100 IN SOME SPOTS. HEAT INDEX VALUES DURING THIS TIME WILL HOVER
IN THE UPPER 90S AND LOW 100S...SO EXERCISE CAUTION IF OUTDOORS FOR
AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME LATE THIS WEEK. /TEMPERATURES WILL BE ON
AVERAGE OF 8 TO 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE WEEKEND./

A FEW SHOWERS AND STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON IN THE
SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA AS A SEABREEZE/WEAK UPPER DISTURBANCE
MOVES ACROSS THE AREA. THE BETTER CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND STORMS
THOUGH WILL ARRIVE BY SATURDAY WITH THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH WILL
MEANDERING NORTHEASTWARD...ALLOWING FOR CONVECTION TO DEVELOP DURING
PEAK AFTERNOON HEATING.

MODEL GUIDANCE DIVERGES SOMEWHAT WITH THE EXPECTED OUTPUT FOR THE
WEEKEND TIME FRAME. THERE ARE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NAM/GFS/ECMWF
REGARDING THE FOCUS FOR CONVECTION LATE IN THE EXTENDED. WHEREAS THE
GFS SHOWS A MORE WELL-DEFINED WAVE...ECMWF/NAM SHOW MORE SPOTTY
AFTERNOON CONVECTION. FOR NOW...WILL NOT CHANGE THIS PORTION OF THE
FORECAST AND KEEP MENTION OF SHOWERS/STORMS SATURDAY AFTERNOON INTO
EARLY NEXT WEEK. AFTERNOON HIGH/OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES DURING
THIS TIME WILL BE HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON AFTERNOON CONVECTION AND THE
ASSOCIATED RAINFALL RECEIVED.

A LOOK AT AFTERNOON BUFR SOUNDINGS IS SUGGESTIVE THAT STORMS MAY
PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND GUSTS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...SO THIS WILL
NEED TO BE MONITORED AS THE WEEKEND APPROACHES. PWATS AROUND 2 INCHES
AND AN INVERTED-V SOUNDING ARE SUGGESTIVE OF DOWNBURSTS AND HEAVY RAIN.

FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK....LONG-RANGE MODELS ARE IN DECENT AGREEMENT OF
THE OVERALL ATMOSPHERIC SETUP WITH A STRONG RIDGE PARKED OVER THE
SOUTHEAST AND AN APPROACHING LOW TO THE WEST WITH A DEPARTING LOW
OVER ERN CANADA. THIS WILL MEAN CONTINUED HEAT AND HUMIDITY FOR THE
AREA. AREAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO RECEIVE AFTERNOON RAINFALL WILL LIKELY
SEE HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S/LOWER 90S...WHEREAS DRY AREAS WILL LIKELY
SEE THE LOWER/MIDDLE 90S. HEAT INDICES RETURN TO THE LOWER 100S BY
MIDWEEK NEXT WEEK.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
JACKSON       69  99  71  98 /   6   7   4   5
MERIDIAN      67  98  68  98 /   8   7   3   4
VICKSBURG     65  96  69  97 /   6   7   4   5
HATTIESBURG   69  98  71  98 /   7  14  14   4
NATCHEZ       67  95  71  96 /   6  14  14   5
GREENVILLE    68  97  73  99 /   5   7   3   6
GREENWOOD     69  97  72  99 /   5   7   3   7

&&

.JAN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MS...NONE.
LA...NONE.
AR...NONE.
&&

/

Hazardous weather outlook, May 31, 12:01 PM CST, 11 hours 59 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
ISSUED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
101 PM CDT TUE MAY 31 2011

ARZ074-075-LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026-MSZ018-019-025>066-072>074-
011900-
ASHLEY-CHICOT-MOREHOUSE-WEST CARROLL-EAST CARROLL-RICHLAND-
MADISON LA-FRANKLIN LA-CATAHOULA-TENSAS-CONCORDIA-BOLIVAR-
SUNFLOWER-LEFLORE-GRENADA-CARROLL-MONTGOMERY-WEBSTER-CLAY-LOWNDES-
CHOCTAW-OKTIBBEHA-WASHINGTON-HUMPHREYS-HOLMES-ATTALA-WINSTON-
NOXUBEE-ISSAQUENA-SHARKEY-YAZOO-MADISON MS-LEAKE-NESHOBA-KEMPER-
WARREN-HINDS-RANKIN-SCOTT-NEWTON-LAUDERDALE-CLAIBORNE-COPIAH-
SIMPSON-SMITH-JASPER-CLARKE-JEFFERSON-ADAMS-FRANKLIN MS-LINCOLN-
LAWRENCE-JEFFERSON DAVIS-COVINGTON-JONES-MARION-LAMAR-FORREST-
101 PM CDT TUE MAY 31 2011

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...
NORTHEAST LOUISIANA...AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...
THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS...AND
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER
OPERATIONS IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH NEXT MONDAY.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT
WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/JAN. THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICAL HAZARDOUS
WEATHER OUTLOOK.

007

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Warren

When: June 1, 12:00 AM CST to June 12, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Warren County, 3.83 mi SW of Brunswick to 1.29 mi WNW of Palmyra
Cause: Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Property damage: $268,000
Crop damage: $200,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 32.515, -91.121

Flooding along the Mississippi River caused extensive flooding of low lying farmland around the river. Areas behind the backwater levee flooded due to tributaries that were unable to drain through the Steele Bayou structure, which had been closed. The flood waters continued to recede during the first two weeks of June, with significant flooding ending on June 12th.

Flood, Claiborne

When: June 1, 12:00 AM CST to June 14, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Claiborne County, 2.72 mi WSW of Westside to 5.04 mi SSE of Port Gibson
Cause: Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: $200,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 31.890, -91.195

Flooding along the Mississippi River caused extensive flooding of low lying farmland around the river. The flood waters continued to recede during the first two weeks of June, with significant flooding ending on June 14th.

Flood, Jefferson

When: June 1, 12:00 AM CST to June 16, 6:00 PM CST
Where: Jefferson County, 3.1 mi WNW of Church Hill to 4.84 mi WNW of Church Hill
Cause: Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Property damage: $15,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 31.733, -91.300

Flood, Adams

When: June 1, 12:00 AM CST to June 17, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Adams County, 7.8 mi N of Pine Ridge to 7.91 mi N of Pine Ridge
Cause: Heavy Rain / Snow Melt
Property damage: $66,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 31.742, -91.364

Flooding along the Mississippi River caused extensive flooding of low lying farmland around the river, as well as locations right along the river in Natchez. The flood waters continued to recede during the first two weeks of June, with significant flooding ending on June 17th.

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

Every storm in Mississippi in 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in Mississippi, June 2011

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: 326456, 326460, 326463, 326466.