Thunderstorm Wind — Kemper, Mississippi

2023-06-14 · near Prince Chapel, Kemper, Mississippi

Event narrative

High downburst winds from a supercell thunderstorm blew down trees and power lines and caused other damage across central and northern portions of Kemper County. The roof was blown off an outbuilding in the Coy community, and a tree was blown onto a home in De Kalb. A peak wind gust of 82 mph was measured at the Joe Williams Naval Outlying Field AWOS site KNJW.

Wider weather episode

Convergence of moisture along a stationary front in northern Mississippi triggered thunderstorms during the day on June 14th. With an unstable air mass south of the front and a strong jet stream over the frontal zone sustaining robust updrafts, these storms quickly became severe and moved east-southeast across portions of Mississippi through the morning of the 15th. Storms produced hail as large as 4.88 inches near Brooksville, which when measured was just below the record 5.0 inches for the state of Mississippi. Swaths of hail and wind damaged crops in addition to homes, trees, and power lines.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8600, -88.9100)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1146047. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.