A cold front approached the Mid-South during the day on October 31st, 2013. Widespread rain occurred through much of the day.
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.
A cold front approached the Mid-South during the day on October 31st, 2013. Widespread rain occurred through much of the day. However...rain tapered off by late afternoon. There was enough of a window for the atmosphere to recover before the actual cold front moved into the area during the evening. Thus a couple of severe thunderstorms developed ahead of the front during the evening hours across West Tennessee. Damaging winds occurred from the storms.
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 Oct 31, 5:32 PM CST, 2 hours 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 632 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013 .UPDATE... UPDATED TO ADD 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 231 PM CDT THU OCT 31 2013/ DISCUSSION... A COLD FRONT CURRENTLY STRETCHES FROM NEAR QUINCY ILLINOIS TO TULSA OKLAHOMA. MAIN AREA OF RAIN CONTINUES TO SLOWLY PUSH EAST BUT STILL REMAINS OVER MOST LOCATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. THIS AREA OF RAIN WILL CONTINUE ITS EASTWARD PROGRESSION THIS EVENING. RAIN SHOULD BE COMING TO AN END SHORTLY ACROSS THE MEMPHIS METRO AREA. MEANWHILE ACROSS SOUTHWEST MISSOURI WHERE THE SHORTWAVE IS LOCATED...SHOWERS ARE BEGINNING TO POP. THUS FAR ONLY ONE OR TWO THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED. THERE IS A FEW BREAKS OCCURRING IN THE CLOUDS ACROSS SOUTHERN MISSOURI/NORTHERN ARKANSAS. THE QUESTION REMAINS WILL THERE BE ENOUGH TIME FOR THE ATMOSPHERE TO BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH FOR THE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE. CLOUD COVER REMAINS ACROSS NORTHEAST ARKANSAS AND EXPECT ANY BREAKS THAT WOULD OCCUR WOULD HAPPEN OVER THE NEXT 1-3 HOURS. AT THIS TIME DO NOT THINK THERE WILL BE ENOUGH TIME FOR THE ATMOSPHERE TO BECOME UNSTABLE ENOUGH FOR ANY THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE ACROSS THE MIDSOUTH. ALTHOUGH CANNOT RULE OUT A FEW SHOWERS OR JUST GENERAL THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING ACROSS NORTHEAST ARKANSAS...THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL...AND NORTHWEST TENNESSEE AS THE SHORTWAVE MOVES THROUGH THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. LOWS WILL BE IN THE LOWER TO MID 50S. DO NOT EXPECT MUCH CHANGE IN TEMPERATURES ON FRIDAY BEHIND THE FRONT AS WINDS QUICKLY TURN AROUND TO THE SOUTHWEST. EXPECT MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES WITH HIGHS IN THE LOWER 70S. A REINFORCING COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE MIDSOUTH FRIDAY NIGHT. THE FRONT WILL COME THROUGH THE AREA DRY. MUCH COOLER AIR WILL FILTER INTO THE AREA BEHIND THIS FRONT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLOWLY BUILD INTO THE MIDSOUTH OVER THE WEEKEND. GENERALLY EXPECT MOSTLY CLEAR CONDITIONS DURING THIS TIME FRAME...ALTHOUGH CAN/T RULE OUT SOME STRATO-CU DEVELOPING ACROSS PORTIONS OF WEST TENNESSEE ON SATURDAY WHICH MAY KEEP TEMPERATURES COOLER THAN WHAT GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTING. WILL GO WITH HIGHS RANGING FROM THE UPPER 50S TO THE LOWER 60S ON SATURDAY. DO NOT EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO BE MUCH DIFFERENT ON SUNDAY DUE TO A COLD START. LOWS WILL DROP DOWN INTO THE 30S SATURDAY NIGHT. A WARMING TREND WILL OCCUR ON MONDAY AS THE HIGH SHIFTS EAST. WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE SOME WARM AIR ADVECTION SHOWERS OCCURRING LATE MONDAY NIGHT AHEAD OF THE NEXT SYSTEM. A COLD FRONT WILL LIKELY MOVE INTO THE AREA LATE TUESDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY. THERE REMAINS SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MODELS. CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR AHEAD OF THE FRONT. HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN SETTLE INTO THE AREA BEHIND THE FRONT. KRM && .AVIATION... 00Z TAF CYCLE MAIN PRE-FRONTAL AREA OF RAIN WILL BE EXITING WEST TENNESSEE AND NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS. HOWEVER...A BROKEN LINE OF SHOWERS AND PERHAPS AN EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORM AT BEST ALIGNED ALONG THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THROUGH TAF SITES THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY AT JBR. MVFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED TO IMPROVE TO VFR CONDITIONS AT ALL SITES TONIGHT WITH THE ONLY EXCEPTIONS AT JBR DUE TO TEMPORARY MVFR CEILINGS LATER THIS EVENING ASSOCIATED WITH WRAP AROUND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE BEHIND THE COLD FRONT AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SOME PATCHY FOG AT TUP BETWEEN 01/09-12Z. GUSTY SOUTH/SOUTHWEST WINDS AVERAGING BETWEEN 12-15 KTS WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 25 KTS WILL VEER WEST/NORTHWEST AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE AND DIMINISH TO BETWEEN 4-6 KTS LATER TONIGHT AND INCREASE TO 8-10 KTS AFTER 01/16Z. CJC && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... MEM 50 72 49 63 / 10 0 0 0 MKL 51 71 44 57 / 30 0 0 0 JBR 49 70 44 60 / 20 0 0 0 TUP 54 73 47 62 / 20 0 0 0 && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. MO...NONE. MS...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
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</html>The Memphis radar (KNQA), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:44 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Straight line winds knocked down trees between Fowlkes and Roellen. HIghway 210 in Fowlkes and Don Hurley Road near Roellen were blocked as a result.
Straight line winds knocked down trees and power lines between Dyer and Rutherford.
Straight line winds knocked down a few trees just south of Paris.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, October 2013
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 480251, 480252, 480253.