A powerful low pressure system intensified rapidly as it moved northeast from Texas through Arkansas, southeast Missouri into western Kentucky. In doing so, windy conditions developed across the Tennessee Valley ahead of an associated cold front and squall line.
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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 HUN wrote it up.
A powerful low pressure system intensified rapidly as it moved northeast from Texas through Arkansas, southeast Missouri into western Kentucky. In doing so, windy conditions developed across the Tennessee Valley ahead of an associated cold front and squall line. South winds increased to 25-35 mph, with gusts of 40-55 mph at times. An intense squall line moved in from Mississippi, northwest Alabama and southwest Tennessee during the mid morning hours, sweeping east across the rest of southern middle Tennessee through the midday hours. The line of thunderstorms produced a brief period of high wind gusts, which knocked down a few trees and power lines. Behind the line of thunderstorms, the sky cleared out rapidly, but southwest winds continued at 25-35 mph, with gusts of 40-50 mph. The winds finally subsided quickly near sunset, but not until after additional damage occurred.
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 Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 3, 9:04 AM CST, 1 hour 46 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Huntsville AL 904 AM CST Fri Mar 3 2023 ...New NEAR TERM... .NEAR TERM... (Rest of Today) Issued at 903 AM CST Fri Mar 3 2023 Monitoring the QLCS progression northeast out of MS, with ample shear and building instability. The steep mid level lapse rates above the strong capping inversion have us concerned for more robust growth as limited but sufficient daytime heating is underway. The timing and impacts along the line remain the same, but given the strong low level shear, agree with the SPC upgrade to tornado probabilities in our TN counties. Already receiving reports of a couple of large tree branches down and expect more as the gradient winds increase. Expecting the greatest gradient winds behind the cold front, but the low level jet ahead of the front could lead to exceptional wind gusts as well ahead of the QLCS, especially in the higher elevations. Would anticipate either an extension or new Tornado Watch in our eastern counties later this morning, so stay tuned. && .SHORT TERM... (Tonight through Monday) Issued at 400 AM CST Fri Mar 3 2023 High pressure will build in later tonight behind the cold front, and drier air will bring an end to the cloud cover. Northerly winds should begin to die down as they veer to the north during the early morning hours, and overnight lows will drop to the lower 40s across the area. Overall, a beautiful weekend will shape up as broad ridging takes place over the eastern CONUS and sfc high pressure slowly shifts northeast into the upper Appalachians. Highs will top out in the low to mid 60s on Saturday, climbing into the upper 60s/lower 70s on Sunday as 850mb flow returns to the south. The warming trend will continue through Monday, as WAA increases ahead of a weak mid-lvl disturbance. Look for highs in the mid 70s with increasing cloud cover on Monday. Overnight lows will warm each night as well, beginning in the lower 40s Saturday night rising to the upper 40s/lower 50s Sunday night. && .LONG TERM... (Monday night through Thursday) Issued at 400 AM CST Fri Mar 3 2023 A cold front will bring back chances for rain late Monday into Tuesday, although pretty big timing differences still exist among global models. Will keep with the NBM 20-30PoP during this time. The remainder of the week looks unsettled, but models continue to diverge regarding placement and timing of a later week disturbance. For now, there is no big signal for a severe weather event, and there are some indications we could be in for a colder pattern change by the weekend. && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 615 AM CST Fri Mar 3 2023 MVFR cigs have prevailed across the area this morning as gradient winds begin to increase. SSE winds sustained at 20-30kts with gusts as high as 45-50kts will be possible today, and have added wind shear to both terminals given increasing wind speeds aloft. The main timing for storms will come between 16-18z at MSL and 17-19z, and have included TEMPO groups in both TAFs to account for this. Rain should come to an end quickly after these timeframes, but strong gradient winds will linger into the early evening hours. VFR conditions will return later this afternoon, and skies should begin clearing through the overnight hours as winds become calmer. && .HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AL...High Wind Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for ALZ001>010-016. TN...High Wind Warning until 6 PM CST this evening for TNZ076-096-097. && NEAR TERM...17 SHORT TERM....25 LONG TERM....25 AVIATION...25
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1034 AM CST FRI MAR 3 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0950 AM TSTM WND DMG RED BAY 34.44N 88.13W
03/03/2023 FRANKLIN AL PUBLIC
NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES AND POWER LINES
DOWN NEAR RED BAY.
&&
TPBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1035 AM CST FRI MAR 3 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1003 AM TSTM WND DMG 9 NE VINA 34.48N 87.95W
03/03/2023 FRANKLIN AL EMERGENCY MNGR
*** 1 INJ ***
TREES DOWN AND REPORT OF A MINOR INJURY.
&&
TPBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1036 AM CST FRI MAR 3 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1030 AM TSTM WND DMG 1 S RUSSELLVILLE 34.50N 87.73W
03/03/2023 FRANKLIN AL EMERGENCY MNGR
NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TREES AND POWER LINES
DOWN NEAR RUSSELLVILLE.
&&
TPBPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
1050 AM CST FRI MAR 3 2023
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1034 AM TSTM WND GST 2 E MUSCLE SHOALS 34.75N 87.61W
03/03/2023 M60 MPH COLBERT AL ASOS
KSML REPORTS A WIND GUST OF 52 KT.
&&
TPBThe Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 16:51 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Emergency management reported a few trees were knocked down and had to be removed from roadways. Damage occurred to two residential electrical services in the Broadview community.
Two trees were knocked down at 145 Monroe Floyd Road. One of the trees landed on a mobile home.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Tennessee in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Tennessee, March 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: 1090826, 1090824.