An upper level disturbance and a weak cold front moved across the Mid-South and interacted with a moist and unstable airmass to produce several mesoscale convective systems that tracked across North Mississippi. Heavy rain started during the early morning hours of July 3, 2015 and continued well into the afternoon.
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.
An upper level disturbance and a weak cold front moved across the Mid-South and interacted with a moist and unstable airmass to produce several mesoscale convective systems that tracked across North Mississippi. Heavy rain started during the early morning hours of July 3, 2015 and continued well into the afternoon. Rain amounts totaled nearly 10 inches in some places.
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 Jul 3, 3:04 AM CST, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 404 AM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 .DISCUSSION... THE RECENT WET PATTERN WILL CONTINUE TODAY...COURTESY OF AN UNSEASONAL UPPER LEVEL LONGWAVE TROF OVER THE MS RIVER VALLEY. EARLY MORNING GOES WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWED A SHORTWAVE TROF CENTERED OVER IOWA. THIS FEATURE WILL DEAMPLIFY AND LIFT EAST TO THE SOUTHERN GREAT LAKES TODAY...WHILE A POSITIVELY TILTED MID LEVEL TROF AXIS DROPS THROUGH THE LOWER AND MIDDLE MS RIVER VALLEYS. THIS MIDLEVEL TROF AXIS WILL AID IN AIRMASS DESTABILIZATION OVER THE MIDSOUTH TODAY...AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING SURFACE COLD FRONT. BY LATE THIS EVENING... THE COLD FRONT WILL LIKELY EXTEND ALONG THE I40 CORRIDOR...WITH GREATEST RAIN CHANCES OCCURING ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE FRONT. SATURDAY WILL MARK THE BEGINNING OF WEAKENING FLOW ALOFT...AS THE SOUTHERN EXTENSION OF THE POSITIVELY TILTED TROF IS SEPARATED FROM ITS NORTHERN BRANCH COMPONENT. DAYTIME CONVECTIVE INHIBITION WILL REMAIN WEAK...ESPECIALLY OVER NORTH MS...IN IN THE VICINITY OF THE UPPER TROF AXIS. UPPER LEVEL HEIGHTS WILL GRADUALLY BUILD DURING THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK...BUT STILL REMAIN BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMS. GFS PROGS PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES NEAR 2 INCHES...WITH WEAK DAYTIME CONVECTIVE INHIBITION. DAYTIME TEMPS WILL LIKELY WARM TO A FEW DEGREES SHY OF NORMAL BY MIDWEEK...BUT WILL BE LOCALLY AFFECTED BY SCATTERED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS. PWB && .AVIATION... 06Z TAF CYCLE VFR CONDITIONS WILL BE FOUND DURING MOST OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING ACROSS MAINLY THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA BUT SHOULD INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE OVERNIGHT. MORE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE DAY AND EARLY EVENING HOURS ON FRIDAY. ANY OF THE THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE A BRIEF PERIOD OF MVFR CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES. WINDS WILL BE MAINLY FROM THE SOUTHWEST AT 5 TO 10 KNOTS FOR MUCH OF THE FORECAST PERIOD. ARS && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. MO...NONE. MS...NONE. TN...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN 318 AM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115- MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>022-048>055-088>092-041030- ALCORN-BENTON MS-BENTON TN-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- 318 AM CDT FRI JUL 3 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST ARKANSAS... THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL...NORTH MISSISSIPPI...AND WEST TENNESSEE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TODAY... MAINLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM WALNUT RIDGE ARKANSAS TO PARIS TENNESSEE. DAMAGING WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SATURDAY... MAINLY SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 40. STRONG WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE POSSIBLE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED TODAY OVER THE SLIGHT RISK AREA. PWB
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1143 PM CDT THU JUL 02 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1140 PM HAIL PIGGOTT 36.38N 90.20W
07/02/2015 E0.88 INCH CLAY AR PUBLIC
NICKEL SIZE HAIL IN PIGGOTT ALONG WITH 50 MPH WINDS WHICH
KNOCKED DOWN SOME LIMBS AND SMALL PIECES OF SHINGLES FROM
OLDER BUILDINGS.
&&
ARSPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1213 AM CDT FRI JUL 03 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1208 AM FLASH FLOOD 3 S PARAGOULD 36.01N 90.51W
07/03/2015 GREENE AR PUBLIC
PICTURE ON TWITTER SHOWS FLOOD WATER UP TO THE KNEES OF A
RESIDENT IN THE CARRIAGE HILLS SUBDIVISION SOUTH OF
PARAGOULD.
&&
JPMThe Memphis radar (KNQA), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:24 UTC.
5 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Portions of Pope Crowder Road between Teasdale Road and U.S. Highway 35 were inundated due to flash flooding.
Straight line winds knocked down multiple trees on U.S. Highway 51 south of Pope.
Heavy rain resulted in flash flooding in Tupelo. The intersection of Jefferson Street and Broadway Street was closed due to high water.
Heavy rain across DeSoto County resulted in numerous reports of flash flooding. Street flooding occurred around Horn Lake and a car was partially submerged due to high water in the Sutton Subdivision. Roads in the Montclair Subdivision in Hernando were flooded. Portions of Rasco Road near Southaven were closed due to high water. The public reported 6.60 inches of rain for the day in Southeast Olive Branch.
Heavy rain produced flash flooding in Pontotoc County. There was flooding under the Tanglefoot Bridge near a supermarket in Pontotoc. There was also flooding to the front porch of a house in Algoma.
Very heavy rain caused widespread flash flooding across Union County. Multiple roads were closed including County Road 115, County Road 45, County Road 51, County Road 238, County Road 16, County Road 180 and Highway 178. County Road 238 was washed out in areas. The Little Tallahatchie River flooded into Downtown New Albany. The park adjacent to the river was closed due to flooding. Six houses were evacuated due to flooding. Eight businesses were flooded as well. A trained spotter reported a total of 9.95 inches of rain for the event.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, July 2015
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: 594611, 594614, 594617, 594619, 594627, 594635.