Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, March 30 to 31, 2025

Name: Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, March 30 to 31, 2025
Start: 2025-03-30T19:46
End: 2025-03-31T00:13
Location: Tennessee

March 30 to 31, 2025 · NWS MEG · 17 events in 9 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $10,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 17

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS MEG wrote it up.

Significant instability built across the Mid-South as temperatures climbed into the upper 70s and lower 80s and dewpoints topped out in the mid to upper 60s. This warm moist air provided very high instability for this time of year. Additionally, plentiful shear and exceptional lapse rates were available. Thunderstorms were able to grow upscale quickly across West Tennessee as discrete cells. The discrete cells eventually congealed into a line later in the evening. Damaging winds and hail were the primary threats.

What forecasters said that day

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 Mar 30, 5:18 PM CST, 2 hours 28 minutes earlier. Its key messages:

Updated at 607 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025 -Severe thunderstorms will move through the Mid-South this evening through the early morning hours on Monday. Damaging winds, tornadoes, large hail and flash flooding will be possible. -Dry and cool conditions are forecast Monday and Tuesday. -An active weather pattern will reemerge Wednesday and persist through next weekend. Multiple rounds of strong thunderstorms will produce potential for significant flooding, especially along and north of Interstate 40. In addition, thunderstorms may bring damaging winds and tornadoes. By the end of next weekend, 7 to 12 inches of rainfall is expected north of Interstate 40, with 3 to 7 inches to the south.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 30, 5:18 PM CST, 2 hours 28 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Memphis TN
618 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

...New AVIATION...

.KEY MESSAGES...
Updated at 607 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

-Severe thunderstorms will move through the Mid-South this evening
 through the early morning hours on Monday. Damaging winds,
 tornadoes, large hail and flash flooding will be possible.

-Dry and cool conditions are forecast Monday and Tuesday.

-An active weather pattern will reemerge Wednesday and persist
 through next weekend. Multiple rounds of strong thunderstorms
 will produce potential for significant flooding, especially along
 and north of Interstate 40. In addition, thunderstorms may bring
 damaging winds and tornadoes. By the end of next weekend, 7 to
 12 inches of rainfall is expected north of Interstate 40, with 3
 to 7 inches to the south.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
(This evening through next Saturday)
Issued at 345 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

Primary concern remains short term severe weather threat.
Several hours of clearing over AR have allowed surface-based CAPE
to build in excess of 3000 J/kg, as measured by the 18Z LZK
sounding. This sounding also showed an elevated mixed layer (EML),
yielding very steep midlevel lapse rates of 9.3 C/km. Deep moist
convection has been capped thus far by the EML, but this capping
should weaken as the EML translates east in tandem with an
approaching midlevel trough. The LZK sounding measured 0-3km SRH
of 180 m2/s2, but this should increase with the development of a
45KT low level jet over the delta after 22Z. This low level jet
will largely be responsible for Energy Helicity Index (EHI) and
Significant Tornado Parameter (STP) ramping up over delta by
sunset. 18Z HRRR depicts the STP increasing to 5-8 over the
Memphis metro between 8-10PM CDT / 01-03Z. STP values this high
indicate a potential for strong, long-track tornadoes.

By midnight, convection mode will transition to quasi-linear,
as a midlevel shortwave lifts eastward into the Ohio River
Valley. Orientation of the QLCS will roughly orient parallel to
I-40, as it sinks south into north MS after midnight. Wind threat
will likely increase over north MS during the overnight, with
the approach of an upstream shortwave trough from TX. Post-
midnight HRRR hodographs over northeast MS indicate a likelihood
of embedded supercells and tornadoes through 3-4 AM.

Relatively quiet zonal flow aloft will prevail Monday and Tuesday.
By Tuesday night, low level return flow will develop and intensify
under increasingly diffluent flow aloft. By Wednesday afternoon,
a longwave trough will occupy the western two-thirds of the CONUS.
The Midsouth will remain under southwest flow aloft, situated
between the longwave trough and a 589 DM 500mb Bermuda high.
This setup will prevail through late week, slowly becoming more
amplified. A belt of midlevel Pacific tropical moisture will
combine with surface dewpoints in the 60s to produce PWAT values
around 2 inches over the Midsouth, at the maximum value of
climatology. A quasi-stationary surface front will extend across
AR into the lower OH River Valley, oscillating as a series of
shortwaves eject from the western trough. Multiple rain events
will combine to produce weekly rainfall totals of 7 to 12 inches
north of I-40, and 3 to 7 inches to the south. In addition to a
river and areal flooding threat, damaging winds will be possible.
In particular, Wednesday stands out, with LREF mean surface based
CAPE of 2000 J/kg and mean 0-3 km SRH of 270 m2/s2 along and south
of I-40.

By late next weekend into early the following week, a deepening
northern branch longwave trough over the eastern CONUS will
displace the tropical moisture fetch and allow a relatively strong
surface cold front to pass. The cooler and drier conditions will
prevail for several days as we wrap up the first week of April.

PWB

&&

.AVIATION...
(00Z TAFS)
Issued at 607 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

A line of showers and thunderstorms will sweep across the Midsouth
this evening, lasting through the overnight hours. 01-03Z at JBR,
04z at MKL and MEM, and 07-08z at TUP looks to the the greatest
impact although storms could develop ahead of the main line.
Showers will likely continue behind the line. IFR to MVFR cigs are
likely through the night. South to southwest winds around 15 kts
tonight will shift from the northwest before sunrise at around
10kts. VFR conditions will prevail at all sites after 15z
tomorrow.

&&

.MEG WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AR...None.
MO...None.
MS...None.
TN...None.
&&

PUBLIC FORECAST...PWB
AVIATION...JDS

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 30, 5:41 PM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
641 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0619 PM     Hail             2 S Malden              36.56N 89.97W
03/30/2025  E1.00 Inch       Dunklin            MO   Public

            Report of hail the size of quarters near
            Malden.

&&

CMA

Local storm report, Mar 30, 5:58 PM CST, 1 hour 48 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
658 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0658 PM     Hail             2 E Egypt               35.87N 90.89W
03/30/2025  E1.00 Inch       Craighead          AR   Public

            Report of quarter size hail 2 miles east of
            Egypt.

&&

CMA

Local storm report, Mar 30, 6:02 PM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
702 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0643 PM     Hail             Corning                 36.41N 90.59W
03/30/2025  E2.00 Inch       Clay               AR   Public

            Report of golf ball to egg size hail.

&&

CMA

Local storm report, Mar 30, 6:16 PM CST, 1 hour 30 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
716 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0715 PM     Hail             Bono                    35.91N 90.80W
03/30/2025  E1.00 Inch       Craighead          AR   Public

            Nickel to quarter size hail in Bono.

&&

CMA

Local storm report, Mar 30, 7:28 PM CST, 18 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
828 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0825 PM     Hail             2 ENE Marked Tree       35.54N 90.39W
03/30/2025  M1.75 Inch       Poinsett           AR   Public

            several reports of golf ball sized hail in
            Marked Tree.

&&

Local storm report, Mar 30, 7:35 PM CST, 11 minutes before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Memphis TN
835 PM CDT Sun Mar 30 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0810 PM     Hail             Payneway                35.55N 90.49W
03/30/2025  M1.00 Inch       Poinsett           AR   Law Enforcement

            quarter sized hail in Payneway. Time is
            radar estimated.

&&

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 55 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:42 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

14 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lauderdale

When: March 30, 7:46 PM CST to 7:51 PM CST
Where: Lauderdale County, 1.78 mi NE of Ripley
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.750, -89.530

Hail, Lauderdale

When: March 30, 8:00 PM CST to 8:05 PM CST
Where: Lauderdale County, 0.56 mi W of Henning
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.670, -89.590

Hail, Tipton

When: March 30, 8:04 PM CST to 8:09 PM CST
Where: Tipton County, 1.32 mi ENE of Gilt Edge
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.560, -89.810

Thunderstorm Wind, Crockett

When: March 30, 8:22 PM CST to 8:27 PM CST
Where: Crockett County, 0.89 mi SW of Alamo
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $3,000
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 35.770, -89.130

The drive-in movie theater screen at Safari Park suffered significant damage.

Hail, Crockett

When: March 30, 8:33 PM CST to 8:38 PM CST
Where: Crockett County, 0.89 mi NW of Mason Grove
Measured: 1.5 in hail
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 35.780, -88.980

Just below golf ball sized hail, east of Gadsden.

Hail, Shelby

When: March 30, 8:50 PM CST to 8:55 PM CST
Where: Shelby County, 0.56 mi W of Bolton
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: Amateur Radio
Coordinates: 35.320, -89.790

Thunderstorm Wind, Carroll

When: March 30, 8:50 PM CST to 8:55 PM CST
Where: Carroll County, 2.66 mi ENE of Bethel
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $5,000
Reported by: Law Enforcement
Coordinates: 36.044, -88.406

Trees and power lines were knocked down on Highway 77 between White Road and Long Rock Church.

Hail, Madison

When: March 30, 8:54 PM CST to 8:59 PM CST
Where: Madison County, 0.89 mi SE of Gilmore
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: Trained Spotter
Coordinates: 35.670, -88.810

Hail, Tipton

When: March 30, 8:55 PM CST to 9:00 PM CST
Where: Tipton County, 0.89 mi NE of Idaville
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.440, -89.710

Hail, Madison

When: March 30, 9:00 PM CST to 9:05 PM CST
Where: Madison County, 1.38 mi S of Lawrence
Measured: 1.25 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.630, -88.800

Just larger than quarter sized hail on the north side of Jackson.

Hail, Shelby

When: March 30, 9:05 PM CST to 9:10 PM CST
Where: Shelby County, Ellendale
Measured: 1.5 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.230, -89.830

Hail, Henderson

When: March 30, 9:15 PM CST to 9:20 PM CST
Where: Henderson County, 2.82 mi SSW of Blue Goose
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.660, -88.590

Hail, Shelby

When: March 30, 9:19 PM CST to 9:24 PM CST
Where: Shelby County, 1.78 mi SE of Ellendale
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.210, -89.810

Quarter to half dollar sized hail east of Bartlett.

Thunderstorm Wind, Henderson

When: March 30, 9:37 PM CST to 9:42 PM CST
Where: Henderson County, 0.89 mi SE of Lexington
Measured: 50 kt (58 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $2,000
Reported by: Fire Department/Rescue
Coordinates: 35.640, -88.390

A tree fell on a home on Shady Hill Road.

Hail, Fayette

When: March 30, 9:54 PM CST to 9:59 PM CST
Where: Fayette County, 0.69 mi S of Somerville
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.240, -89.350

Hail, Fayette

When: March 30, 10:00 PM CST to 10:05 PM CST
Where: Fayette County, 2.36 mi NNW of Moscow
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 35.100, -89.440

Hail, Hardin

When: March 31, 12:08 AM CST to 12:13 AM CST
Where: Hardin County, 0.57 mi E of Pickwick Dam
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 35.050, -88.240

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Tennessee in 2025 Every state in 2025 This day in weather history Warnings in Tennessee, March 2025

Sources

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: 1248085, 1248087, 1248088, 1248111, 1248090, 1248091, 1250344, 1248093, 1248094, 1248095, 1248096, 1248098, 1248101, 1248113, 1248103, 1248104, 1248106.