A complex of storms producing a prolonged period of moderate to heavy rain occurred across portions of southwest Tennessee during the late afternoon and evening hours of August 29th.
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 complex of storms producing a prolonged period of moderate to heavy rain occurred across portions of southwest Tennessee during the late afternoon and evening hours of August 29th.
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 Aug 29, 5:29 PM CST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Memphis TN 629 PM CDT Wed Aug 29 2018 .UPDATE... Updated for the 00Z Aviation Discussion && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 328 PM CDT Wed Aug 29 2018/ DISCUSSION... Scattered showers and thunderstorms continue to develop across the Mid-South this afternoon. The convection south of I-40 is more isolated and disorganized while the storms farther north have developed along an outflow boundary from early morning convection. Vertical wind shear is a bit stronger farther north and may allow storms to maintain some semblance of organization into the evening hours. A few storms could be strong to marginally severe with the primary hazards being gusty winds, dangerous lightning, and locally heavy rainfall. The cold front currently extending from the Southern Plains into the lower Ohio Valley will move south tonight and is forecast to stall across the Mid-South. A moist airmass will persist in the vicinity of this boundary with precipitable water remaining near or just above 2" through tomorrow evening. A pair of anticyclones associated with the subtropical ridge (one over the Desert Southwest and the other off the east coast) will be separated by a weakness associated with the cut-off low over the central Gulf Coast. This weakness will leave the door open for the shortwave currently traversing the Central Rockies to affect our neck of the woods tomorrow afternoon. Enhanced forcing for ascent, a quasi- stationary front, and a moist column will support scattered to numerous storms across the CWA. A few strong storms are possible once again, but relatively weak shear should limit the potential for severe weather. Again, one of the primary concerns will be localized heavy rainfall from slow-moving or training storms. The weakness in the ridge will persist into the weekend, but geopotential heights will gradually build beginning Saturday. Chance PoPs are in order for Friday but the aforementioned front will eventually wash out, resulting in mostly hot/dry conditions for the Labor Day Holiday weekend. The coolest day (highs in the mid/upper 80s) this week should be tomorrow given the amount of cloud cover and precipitation, but building heights and limited coverage of showers/storms will allow temperatures to slowly warm this weekend. Highs are forecast to return to the lower 90s this weekend and could potentially climb higher early next week as the ridge builds over the eastern CONUS and 500mb heights reaching 954dam. Both the GFS and ECMWF are indicating a disturbance moving eastward beneath the ridge into the eastern Gulf of Mexico by the middle of next week. This feature could eventually be a player in increasing rain chances across the Mid-South, but there is still quite a bit of disparity in the global models and details will remain limited for several days. Johnson && .AVIATION... 00Z TAF cycle VFR conditions will continue for most of the forecast period. An area of thunderstorms continues to move southeast through portions of the Mid-South along the I-40 corridor. This activity will move into north Mississippi this evening and gradually die out after sunset. Some areas of fog may develop overnight. More thunderstorms are expected to develop Thursday afternoon mainly over the southern 2/3rds of the forecast area. Winds will be mainly light and variable tonight and then be from the south at around 5 knots on Thursday. ARS && .MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...None. MO...None. MS...None. TN...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Memphis TN 342 PM CDT Wed Aug 29 2018 ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115- MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>022-048>055-088>092-301100- 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- 342 PM CDT Wed Aug 29 2018 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of East Arkansas... the Missouri Bootheel...North Mississippi...and West Tennessee. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight A few strong thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon into tonight across the Mid-South, mainly along and north of Interstate 40. The main hazards will be gusty winds, lightning, and locally heavy rainfall. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday A few strong thunderstorms will be possible again on Thursday across the Mid-South. Gusty winds and localized heavy rainfall will be the main threats. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
541 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
ARZ036-048-292330-
St. Francis AR-Crittenden AR-
541 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 630 PM CDT
FOR...
Eastern St. Francis County in eastern Arkansas...
Southwestern Crittenden County in eastern Arkansas...
At 541 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing pea size hail or
larger and winds at least 40 mph was located near New Home, or 8
miles north of Hughes, moving southeast at 20 mph.
Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are
also possible with this thunderstorm.
People in eastern St. Francis and southwestern Crittenden Counties
should monitor this storm closely.
LAT...LON 3518 9044 3504 9029 3502 9031 3499 9031
3494 9024 3491 9025 3487 9031 3485 9030
3484 9031 3486 9035 3483 9041 3490 9041
3490 9051 3507 9062
TIME...MOT...LOC 2241Z 323DEG 16KT 3507 9048Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
547 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
TNZ050-089-090-292330-
Hardeman TN-Fayette TN-Haywood TN-
547 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 630 PM CDT
FOR...
Northwestern Hardeman County in southwestern Tennessee...
Northeastern Fayette County in southwestern Tennessee...
Southeastern Haywood County in southwestern Tennessee...
At 547 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing pea size hail or
larger and winds at least 40 mph was located over Hillville, or 11
miles southeast of Brownsville, moving southeast at 10 mph.
Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are
also possible with this thunderstorm.
People in northwestern Hardeman...northeastern Fayette and
southeastern Haywood Counties should monitor this storm closely.
LAT...LON 3518 8915 3545 8930 3555 8912 3551 8907
3550 8908 3543 8908 3543 8898 3534 8888
TIME...MOT...LOC 2247Z 325DEG 9KT 3544 8917Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
621 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
MSZ001-002-008-TNZ088-300000-
Marshall MS-DeSoto MS-Tate MS-Shelby TN-
621 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 700 PM CDT
FOR...
Northwestern Marshall County in northwestern Mississippi...
Eastern DeSoto County in northwestern Mississippi...
Northeastern Tate County in northwestern Mississippi...
Southeastern Shelby County in southwestern Tennessee...
At 621 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing pea size hail or
larger and winds at least 40 mph was located over Olive Branch,
moving south at 20 mph.
Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are
also possible with this thunderstorm.
People in northwestern Marshall...eastern DeSoto...northeastern Tate
and southeastern Shelby Counties should monitor this storm closely.
LAT...LON 3473 8991 3501 8993 3509 8964 3500 8964
3499 8958 3478 8947
TIME...MOT...LOC 2321Z 348DEG 17KT 3496 8981Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
646 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
MSZ024-300030-
Monroe MS-
646 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 730 PM CDT
FOR...
Southeastern Monroe County in northeastern Mississippi...
At 646 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing winds at least 40 mph
was located near Waverly, or near Columbus AFB, moving northeast at
55 mph.
Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are
also possible with this thunderstorm.
People in southeastern Monroe County should monitor this storm
closely.
LAT...LON 3367 8850 3367 8849 3368 8850 3368 8868
3393 8822 3375 8825 3375 8832 3372 8833
3369 8837 3369 8839 3367 8842 3366 8850
3365 8851 3366 8851
TIME...MOT...LOC 2346Z 239DEG 48KT 3364 8855Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Memphis TN 706 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018 MSZ007-008-012-300045- Tunica MS-Panola MS-Tate MS- 706 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018 ...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 745 PM CDT FOR... East central Tunica County in northwestern Mississippi... Northwestern Panola County in northwestern Mississippi... Southwestern Tate County in northwestern Mississippi... At 706 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing pea size hail or larger and winds at least 40 mph was located over Strayhorn, or 10 miles west of Senatobia, moving southeast at 15 mph. Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are also possible with this thunderstorm. People in east central Tunica...northwestern Panola and southwestern Tate Counties should monitor this storm closely. LAT...LON 3463 9032 3474 9017 3463 8989 3444 9013 TIME...MOT...LOC 0006Z 300DEG 11KT 3463 9015
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
707 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
MSZ002-300045-
Marshall MS-
707 PM CDT WED AUG 29 2018
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED UNTIL 745 PM CDT
FOR...
Central Marshall County in northwestern Mississippi...
At 707 PM CDT...a strong thunderstorm producing pea size hail or
larger and winds at least 40 mph was located near Wall Doxey State
Park. This storm was nearly stationary.
Very heavy rain along with continuous cloud to ground lightning are
also possible with this thunderstorm.
People in central Marshall County should monitor this storm closely.
LAT...LON 3473 8966 3482 8946 3471 8930 3469 8930
3455 8954 3455 8958
TIME...MOT...LOC 0007Z 297DEG 2KT 3470 8951The Memphis radar (KNQA), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:30 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Several feet of flowing water on Riverdale Road north of Highway 385. Debris in water. Traffic detouring around.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, August 2018
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: 777941.