A residual boundary left over from pre-dawn storms was located near the Tennessee/Mississippi state line during the morning hours of July 21, 2023. By early afternoon a progressive mid-level trough moved into the region on northwest flow aloft.
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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.
A residual boundary left over from pre-dawn storms was located near the Tennessee/Mississippi state line during the morning hours of July 21, 2023. By early afternoon a progressive mid-level trough moved into the region on northwest flow aloft. Along and south of the boundary the airmass became strongly unstable with mixed-layer convective available potential energy values over 4000 J/kg and downdraft convective available potential energy values exceeding 1000 J/kg. The approaching mid-level trough reignited storms along the boundary. A bow echo formed over eastern Arkansas during the early afternoon and raced east along the Tennessee/Mississippi border resulting in numerous damaging wind reports including widespread power outages in the Memphis Metropolitian area. This was the fourth time in four weeks that the Memphis area suffered widespread power outages from damaging wind. As storms moved east they expanded southward across northeast Mississippi.
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 21, 5:10 AM CST, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.
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</html>Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Memphis TN
1214 PM CDT Fri Jul 21 2023
MSZ001-002-TNZ088-089-211745-
Marshall MS-DeSoto MS-Fayette TN-Shelby TN-
1214 PM CDT Fri Jul 21 2023
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of northeastern DeSoto,
northwestern Marshall, southwestern Fayette and southeastern Shelby
Counties through 1245 PM CDT...
At 1213 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near
Olive Branch, moving east at 20 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects.
Locations impacted include...
Collierville, Germantown, Olive Branch, Memphis, Mt Pleasant,
Slayden, Piperton, Rossville, Cayce, Fairhaven, Elba, Canadaville,
Handy Corner, Taska, Kirk, Miller, Cedarview and Hickory Withe.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
&&
LAT...LON 3488 8982 3505 8988 3519 8952 3493 8942
TIME...MOT...LOC 1713Z 251DEG 19KT 3499 8977
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.00 IN
MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH
AC3The Memphis radar (KNQA), 81 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:39 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A powerline was knocked down in Widener.
Multiple trees were knocked down across Poinsett County.
Powerlines were knocked down and power poles were snapped in the Marion High School area.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arkansas in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Arkansas, July 2023
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: 1126647, 1126650, 1126651.