Lauren McHugh

From GeoClasses

Memphis, Tennessee's Windstorm of 2003

Narration: Media:McHugh_ec.wav

In the summer of 2003, a major storm occurred in Memphis, Tennessee on July 22nd. I was actually out of town on a vacation, however thousands of other people were present for the devastating windstorm that took place in my hometown. Many questions such as “how” and “why” it occurred will be explained, along with insights from The University of Memphis graduate student, Jeremy Bateman, who did extensive research on the storm and put together a power point presentation for an urban hazard class assignment. Bateman states, "I loved watching the storm take place!" Bateman also says,"I was outside trying to take pictures of it while my neighbors across the street yelled for me to go back inside!"

As stated earlier, the storm occurred in the Memphis, Tennessee Metropolitan area causing millions of dollars worth of damages to many businesses and homes on July 22, 2003 and was considered to be a derecho, which is a widespread and long lived windstorm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Derechos are associated with a band of showers or thunderstorms that are often "curved" in shape. These bowed out storms are called "bow echoes.” Bow echo storms occur in all parts of the country during unstable periods and with fairly strong vertical wind shear. Damaging straight- line winds often occur near the "crest" or center of a bow echo. Areas of circulation also can develop at either end of a bow echo, which sometimes can lead to tornado formation (NOAA, 2003).

In the morning of July 22, 2003, thunderstorms developed over southwest Missouri around 0600 UTC and evolved into a bow echo over Northern Arkansas with wind gusts greater than 25 m/s. Maximum intensity was attained upon reaching very unstable air over the Mississippi Delta. The bow echo then moved across the Memphis Metropolitan area around 1200 UTC with wind gusts greater than 40 m/s. The highest wind report was 46 m/s in downtown Memphis. The system then moved rapidly along the Tennessee and Mississippi border into Northern Alabama by 1500 UTC, producing wind gusts from 25-35 m/s (McNeil, 2003).

Radar image showing the storm moving through Memphis, Tennessee

Image of the area affected by the western portion of the July 22, 2003 windstorm

Major damage was done to the mid-south including uprooted trees and downed power lines. After the storm, power outages in the Memphis metropolitan area were extensive. Bateman explains, "I was without power for almost two weeks." About 750,000 people (over 60 percent of the population) lost electrical power. About 75% of the electrically operated traffic lights quit working causing chaotic traffic jams. Also, the airport, which is an important hub for travelers and freight, was closed down. It would take two weeks for all customers in the metropolitan area to get there electrical power back (NOAA, 2003).

The link below will take you to a graph that will give an idea as to how bad the power outage in Memphis, Tennessee really was. The graph was created by Scott McNeil, who is a senior meterologist at NWS Forecast Office in Memphis, TN, and shows where his house was located in the midst of the power outage. The graph also shows the number of customers (and people) without electrical power in the Memphis metropolitan area following the storm on July 22, 2003. The values on the left side of the graph represent the number of customers without electrical power (in the thousands). Each green bar represents the number of customers without power on a given day with the left most bar representing July 22, 2003 and the right most bar representing August 5, 2003 (14 days later).

Image of the major power outage

Bateman stated that for this particular storm, "Memphis was not prepared and will most likely have another storm similar to this one in the future."

According to the NOAA website, Shelby County, TN (where the city of Memphis is located) was declared a Federal Disaster Area given the amount of damage and extensive loss of electricity.

Images that provide dramatic examples of the severe damage experienced in the Memphis metropolitan area as a result of the windstorm

• view of a car crushed by a large tree trunk on Central Avenue in midtown Memphis.
• Two children taking a close look at the root structure of a large tree that was uprooted on Belvedere Boulevard in midtown Memphis.

• View of damage to the Gibson Lounge and Guitar Factory which took a heavy hit.

• View of a house heavily damaged when a large tree fell onto it on Linden Avenue near Cooper Street in midtown Memphis.

• View of a peeled off roof and severe damage to a building on the 200 block of Front Street where journalist Gregory James resided and experienced the devastation.

• View of Linden Avenue west of Barksdale Street which still looks like a war zone when this picture was taken on Friday afternoon, July 25, 2003.....three days after the derecho passed through the area.

• A homeowner on East Goodwyn Street working to extract a large uprooted oak tree which had sandwiched itself between the bedrooms of his two young sons.

• View of a damaged car and downed power lines on Linden Avenue.

Please note that these images were taken from The Commercial Appeal

References

McNeil, Scott 2003. www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/research/july22_2003.pdf.

NOAA, 2003. www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/abtderechos/casepages/kc1982mem2003pwrpage.htm.

Bateman, Jeremy. Personal interview.