Tornado, Wayne
- When
- February 19, 2:22 PM CST to 2:58 PM CST
- Where
- Wayne County, Smithtown to 3 mi of Chicora
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 13 mi
- Path width
- 400 yd
- Property damage
- $50,000
- Coordinates
- 31.430, -88.780
Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
A TORNADO MOVED OUT OF GREENE COUNTY INTO WAYNE COUNTY ABOUT 222 PM CDT 3 MILES WEST OF SMITHTOWN AND 1 MILE WEST OF MS HWY 63. THE TORNADO CROSSED MS HWY 63 AND THEN SKIPPED ALONG THE GROUND ACROSS MOSTLY OPEN FIELDS BEFORE LIFTING BACK INTO THE CLOUDS JUST EAST OF CHICORA.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- 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.
A TORNADO MOVED OUT OF GREENE COUNTY INTO WAYNE COUNTY ABOUT 222 PM CDT 3 MILES WEST OF SMITHTOWN AND 1 MILE WEST OF MS HWY 63. THE TORNADO CROSSED MS HWY 63 AND THEN SKIPPED ALONG THE GROUND ACROSS MOSTLY OPEN FIELDS BEFORE LIFTING BACK INTO THE CLOUDS JUST EAST OF CHICORA. SEVERAL HOMES HAD ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE AND NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN BY THE TORNADO. THE TORNADO SKIPPED ALONG THE GROUND FOR ABOUT 13 MILES WHILE IT WAS IN WAYNE COUNTY.
The radar
The Mobile radar (KMOB), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:23 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, February 19, 1996
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Cold in North Dakota, February 19 to 20, 1996
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Tornado in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, February 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Mississippi, February 19, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, February 19, 1996
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: 5541532.