An upper level disturbance moved through North Mississippi during the morning hours of March 30, 2012. Showers and thunderstorms developed in association with the disturbance.
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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.
An upper level disturbance moved through North Mississippi during the morning hours of March 30, 2012. Showers and thunderstorms developed in association with the disturbance. Some storms became severe producing flash flooding 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 Mar 30, 7:50 AM CST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 850 AM CDT FRI MAR 30 2012 .UPDATE... UPDATED TO INCREASE RAIN CHANCES THIS MORNING && .DISCUSSION... MEASUREABLE RAIN HAS PUSHED FURTHER NORTH THIS MORNING ESPECIALLY ACROSS SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE. HAVE INCREASED RAIN CHANCES BASICALLY ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE FORTY. RAIN SHIELD WILL MOVE EAST EARLY THIS AFTERNOON WITH MORE SCATTERED CONVECTION EXPECTED WITH MAX HEATING. JAB && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 600 AM CDT FRI MAR 30 2012/ DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 409 AM CDT FRI MAR 30 2012/ EARLY MORNING GOES WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWED AN MCV SLOWLY MOVING ACROSS LA. THIS FEATURE WAS LEFTOVER FROM THURSDAY EVENING/S THUNDERSTORMS OVER EAST TX... AND WAS AIDING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHOWERS OVER NORTH MS AT DISCUSSION TIME. ONCE BOUNDARY LAYER DESTABILIZATION OCCURS LATER THIS MORNING... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SOUTH OF I40. FOR AREAS NORTH OF I40...A MIDLEVEL SHORTWAVE DROPPING INTO THE MID/UPPER MS RIVER VALLEY WILL RESULT IN THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE MID MS RIVER VALLEY INTO THE OHIO RIVER VALLEY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A FEW OF THESE MAY DEVELOP SOUTH OF THE KY/TN LINE LATE THIS AFTERNOON...BUT THE BULK OF ACTIVITY SHOULD REMAIN WELL NORTH OF THE MIDSOUTH. 00Z GFS AND NAM MODELS BRING A LOW AMPLITUDE SHORTWAVE THROUGH THE MIDSOUTH ON SATURDAY...EMBEDDED IN NORTHWEST FLOW. 06Z NAM DEVELOPS SURFACE BASED CAPE OF 2000 TO 2500 J/KG IN A WEAKLY SHEARED AIRMASS... SUGGESTIVE OF STRONG TO ISOLATED SEVERE PULSE STORMS. UPPER LEVEL RIDGING WILL BUILD INTO THE LOWER MS RIVER VALLEY ON SUNDAY. RECORD OR NEAR RECORD HEAT WILL PREVAIL. AN ISOLATED STORM NEAR THE TN RIVER VALLEY CANNOT BE RULED OUT...NEAR BACK EDGE OF THE ENCROACHING UPPER RIDGE. UPPER LEVEL RIDGING WILL SHARPEN ON MONDAY... IN ADVANCE OF A CLOSED LOW LIFTING EAST THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. THE GFS HAS BEEN THE MOST CONSISTENT MODEL WITH RESPECT TO TIMING AND STRENGTH OF THIS FEATURE. HOWEVER... BEING A CUT OFF LOW...THERE REMAINS LESS THAN AVERAGE FORECAST CONFIDENCE AT 120 HOURS. SHOULD THE GFS VERIFIES... EXPECT BEST THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL ACROSS THE MIDSOUTH LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. A DRY SLOT WORKING ITS WAY AROUND THE UPPER LOW WOULD END RAINFALL CHANCES FROM WEST TO EAST LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING... FOLLOWED BY ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE PASSAGE OF THE UPPER LOW CORE ON WEDNESDAY...MAINLY EAST OF THE MS RIVER. THE LATTER HALF OF NEXT WORKWEEK APPEARS DRY AND MILD...WITH UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BUILDING IN ONCE AGAIN. PWB && .AVIATION... 12Z TAF SET BAND OF SHRAS WITH ISOLD TSRAS CONTINUES TO MOVE NNE THROUGH NORTH MISSISSIPPI. KMEM AND KMKL MAY SEE SOME -RA OVER NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS BUT EXPECT CONDITIONS TO REMAIN VFR. ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED THROUGH 18Z WHERE KTUP WILL SEE THE BEST CHANCE OF SEEING A TSRA. EXPECT MVFR CONDITIONS TO SPREAD INTO KTUP BY 14-15Z AS A RESULT. CHANCES FOR TSRAS WILL TAPER OFF DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS THUS EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS TO RETURN BY OR SHORTLY AFTER 18Z AT KTUP. LIGHT WINDS OVERNIGHT WILL ALLOW SOME FOG TO DEVELOP AT LEAST AT KTUP AND POSSIBLY AT KMEM AND KMKL DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH RAIN FALLS. FOR NOW WILL ONLY MENTION AT KTUP. KRM && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MEM 80 64 84 67 / 60 20 30 20 MKL 80 58 82 56 / 50 20 30 10 JBR 81 60 82 61 / 20 20 30 10 TUP 77 58 83 63 / 80 20 30 20 && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. MO...NONE. MS...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 343 AM CDT FRI MAR 30 2012 ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115- MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>021-048>055-088>092-311045- 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- 343 AM CDT FRI MAR 30 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST ARKANSAS... THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL...NORTH MISSISSIPPI...AND WEST TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE MIDSOUTH THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN ON SATURDAY. GUSTY WINDS AND SMALL HAIL MAY OCCUR. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE MIDSOUTH MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. PWB
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:51 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Straight line winds knocked down a few trees in Tupelo.
Showers and thunderstorms repeatedly moved over portions of Lee County during the morning hours. Flash flooding was reported in Tupelo, Pratt, and Saltillo where numerous streets and roads had at least six to eight inches of water covering them.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, March 2012
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: 371521, 371520.