What’s that smell? Foul odor reported across Memphis metro

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Residents across the Memphis metro reported an odor across the city Sunday night and throughout the day on Monday, and the cause has not been identified.

Locals are asking what’s causing the smell.

The stink was reported across Shelby County, from Downtown and Midtown Memphis to as far as Germantown and Millington.

Action News 5 reporter Joyce Peterson smelled it in East Memphis on Sunday night and said it permeated her house.

Residents describe the smell

Jacob Taylor, a Memphis resident, said he noticed the smell most strongly downtown.

“I was right there on Union [Avenue], right there between Union and Second. That’s where the smell hit me the hardest,” Taylor said.

Tony Rudd, a Memphis resident, said he could not identify the odor.

“Some off-smell. I couldn’t really put a name to it, but it’s just not usual,” Rudd said.

Memphis City Councilman JB Smiley also posted the question to Facebook: “Any guesses on why the City of Memphis smells so bad?”

Some people described the odor as a dirty diaper. Others described it as sulfur or rotten eggs.

Taylor said it smelled like chemicals.

Possible sources

Taylor speculated the sewers could be the cause.

“It could be the sewers. You know there has been a sewer problem recently where the sewers are just infiltrating your nostrils insanely, and that will take over your nostrils, for sure,” he told Action News 5.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young was asked if the odor originated from the city’s sewage system.

Both of the city’s wastewater treatment plants, T.E. Maxson on the south side and M.C. Stiles on the north side, appeared ruled out as a cause.

Young said city workers are investigating all possible causes of the odor.

“We have our team looking into it. I’ve heard a lot of different things around the weather, clouds, things of that nature,” Young said. “But yeah, I couldn’t tell you. I couldn’t tell you,” Young said.

Some people speculated the odor could be connected to new data centers, but longtime Memphians reminded them, this isn’t the first time the Bluff City has been enveloped in a bad smell.

Weather team explanation

The Action News 5 First Alert Weather team said the odor could be due to a “temperature inversion,” in which warm air moves in and sits on top of denser, cooler air.

That traps smells and pollutants near the surface and makes them more concentrated.

Earlier odor reports

Judge Javier Bailey II posted on Facebook that “y’all know this city has been stanky on random days all my life.”

Action News 5 investigated a countywide smell in 2019. The cause was never identified.

In March 2024, an odor was reported across the city. One city official attributed it to Bradford pear trees.

Taylor said residents are used to days that aren’t so pleasing to the olfactories.

“It’s Memphis. We’re used to different things down here,” Taylor said.

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