Hurricane Laura made landfall along the Louisiana coast near Lake Charles in the early morning hours of August 27. It moved north into Central Louisiana during the morning and afternoon before turning to the northeast and tracking through Arkansas.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 JAN wrote it up.
Hurricane Laura made landfall along the Louisiana coast near Lake Charles in the early morning hours of August 27. It moved north into Central Louisiana during the morning and afternoon before turning to the northeast and tracking through Arkansas. Impacts from Laura were felt far from the center of the storm, which was mainly in the form of tropical storm force winds across portions of northeast Louisiana and southeast Arkansas. Farther east, into Mississippi, the tight pressure gradient that resulted from Laura was the cause for gusty winds across portions of western Mississippi. Winds were sustained 30 to 35 mph, gusting to 45 to 49 mph across portions of northeast Louisiana, southeast Arkansas and the northwest portion of Mississippi. This resulted in downed trees and power lines across the region. Since Laura moved inland fairly quickly, rainfall totals were not high. Rainfall amounts up to four inches occurred along and west of the Mississippi River and this resulted in some minor flooding.
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 Aug 27, 4:00 AM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html><!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<title>Service Notice</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
<main class="wrap">
<section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
<div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
<h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
<p id="message1">
The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
</p>
<p id="message2">
Please try again in a few minutes.
</p>
<p class="small" id="detail">
If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
</p>
</section>
</main>
<script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 tropical storm, 3 flash flood, 2 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple trees were blown down in Natchez. A sign at an AutoZone was also blown down and damaged at least six vehicles. A power line was blow down along Morgantown Road.
A tree was blown down on McNair Road and another one was blown down on Harriston Road due to gradient winds.
Trees were blown down across the county. A 52 mph wind gust was measured at Greenville Mid-Delta Airport.
A tree was blown down on a house on Bradford Drive due to gradient winds.
A few trees were blown down in Cleveland and in Shelby. A 50 mph wind gust was observed around Shelby by a private weather station.
Minor street flooding occurred in Collins. Minor flooding also occurred on Knights Road southwest of Collins.
Moderate street flooding caused a car to stall along 15th Avenue.
Several streets had minor flooding.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Mississippi in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Mississippi, August 2020The 2020 hurricane season
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 917729, 917752, 917730, 917754, 917731, 917760, 917761, 917762.