Flash Flood — Tipton, Tennessee

2025-06-19 · near Mason, Tipton, Tennessee

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused flash flooding throughout the Covington area and across much of Tipton County. Over 7 inches of rain fell in a short period of time, causing flooding on Highway 59 and Highway 51, along with South Main Street in Covington. There were multiple water rescues. Thirty-two homes and businesses were flooded. Many roads and bridges were damaged throughout the county.

Wider weather episode

A very warm, moist, and unstable airmass was in place across the Mid-South ahead of an approaching cold front. Dewpoints ranged from 75 to 80 degrees across the area. As the cold front sagged south, an upper-level disturbance pushed into the region, causing an increase in shear. Convection developed along an old outflow boundary during the late afternoon and evening hours on June 18, 2025. Additional development occurred as the front and additional outflow boundaries pushed south into the area. Storm mode was generally clusters and segments at first. Robust instability and high DCAPE values supported large hail and damaging winds initially. After midnight and during the early morning hours of June 19, 2025, the front nearly stalled and became parallel to the upper-level flow. As a result, convection became more east-west oriented with very heavy rainfall rates. Training storms caused significant flash flooding over parts of West Tennessee.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.4198, -89.5483)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1276992. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.