Mississippi, 1996

Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996

February 19, 1996 · NWS MOB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

NUMEROUS TREES WERE TOPPLED AND SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES WERE DAMAGED BY A TORNADO THAT FIRST TOUCHED DOWN IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF GREENE COUNTY. THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT SIX MILES EAST OF RICHTON ON MS HWY 42 AT ABOUT 220 PM CDT.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
4
Property damage
$150,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS MOB wrote it up.

NUMEROUS TREES WERE TOPPLED AND SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES WERE DAMAGED BY A TORNADO THAT FIRST TOUCHED DOWN IN THE NORTHWEST PART OF GREENE COUNTY. THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT SIX MILES EAST OF RICHTON ON MS HWY 42 AT ABOUT 220 PM CDT. THE TORNADO THEN SKIPPED ALONG THE GROUND TO THE NORTHEAST AND MOVED INTO WAYNE COUNTY ALONG MS HWY 63. NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG THE PATH OF THE TORNADO AND SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES WERE DAMAGED. FOUR PEOPLE IN ONE OF THE MOBILE HOMES WERE INJURED. THE TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 5 MILES IN GREENE COUNTY.

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:17 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Greene

When
February 19, 2:20 PM CST to 2:22 PM CST
Where
Greene County, Richton to 6 mi W of Smithtown
Rating
F2
Path length
5 mi
Path width
400 yd
Injuries
4 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage
$150,000
Coordinates
31.350, -88.850

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Mississippi in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Mississippi, 1996Warnings in Mississippi, February 1996

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5541530.