Thunderstorm Wind — Leake, Mississippi

2008-08-02 · near Marydell, Leake, Mississippi

Event narrative

Hundreds of trees and power lines were blown down as an intense line of storms hit Leake County with 60 to 80 mph winds. Almost 50 roads were blocked by down trees and lines across the county. About 5 homes sustained minor shingle damage, a few sheds were destroyed and 3 mobile homes had tin blown off the roof. The damage was widespread across the county as the line moved generally from northeast to southwest.

Wider weather episode

A rare and widespread significant wind event impacted the NWS Jackson, MS forecast area during the evening of Aug 2nd and lasted into the early morning hours of Aug 3rd. Several clusters of storms developed across Northern Mississippi and Northern Alabama during the late afternoon and became further organized as the clusters moved to the south and southwest. Between 8 and 9 pm, a bowing line of storms was located from Oxford to Starkville, growing larger by the minute, and picking up speed as wind gusts between 50 and 70 mph were taking shape.

A large bow echo quickly evolved and raced to the west-southwest, across Mississippi, through the evening at 50 to 60 mph. The line of storms produced widespread severe wind gusts around 60 mph with many locations seeing significant wind gusts between 75 and 80 mph. Tree and power line damage was widespread and significant along the line with the focus and most intense portion of the bow echo located within an axis from Louisville, MS to Jackson, MS to St. Joseph, LA.

Some of the most significant wind damage occurred across Winston, Neshoba, Leake and Scott counties. Here, thousands of trees were downed along with numerous power lines. Many roads were blocked by downed trees, especially across Scott County. Wind gusts across these areas likely peaked between 75 and 85 mph.

The bow echo was re-energized across Madison and Hinds Counties as the line clashed with pre-line storms. The most intense portion of the bow echo was re-focused as it impacted portions of southern Madison and Hinds County. The most intense portion of the line then dove southwest and impacted Copiah, Claiborne, Jefferson, Franklin and Adams Counties. As the line crossed the Mississippi River, the parishes of Tensas and Concordia saw the brunt of the damaging winds. Similar to areas across Central Mississippi, these locations received significant winds between 75 and 85 mph. Thousands of trees and numerous power lines were downed from the winds. Power outages were substantial as many locations were without power for 2 to 4 days.

Looking at this event in a historic perspective, it was likely the most significant and widespread wind event ever in August for our forecast area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8756, -89.3916)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 129935. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.