Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 1959

F1 tornado, Smith County, Mississippi, January 21, 1959

This F1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Smith County on January 21, 1959, touching down at 10:30 AM GMT-6 and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500 to $5,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F1, estimated from the damage record rather than surveyed
Date
January 21, 1959
Touchdown
10:30 AM GMT-6 (16:30 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500 to $5,000
County
Smith County
Touchdown point
31.870, -89.570
Record number
12

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Jackson, MS (KHKS), 12:00Z

4.5 hours before the tornado, 69 km from the path. January 21, 1959.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 1959-01-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1088 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 773 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 1959-01-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 455 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1088 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1473 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
773 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
455 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
510 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.7
Supercell composite
15.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KHKS), 00:00Z

7.5 hours after it, 69 km from the path. January 22, 1959.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 1959-01-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 789 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 1959-01-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -218 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 89 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
789 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
89 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-218 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-414 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
0.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1959 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 21, 1959

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 215:45 AM GMT-6F2Cullman, AL1.010$5,000 to $50,000
January 217:40 AM GMT-6F2Sharkey, MS31.9100$5,000 to $50,000
January 218:00 AM GMT-6F1Warren, MS16.910$5,000 to $50,000
January 219:11 AM GMT-6F2Tishomingo, MS5.7201$5,000 to $50,000
January 219:15 AM GMT-6F1Pointe Coupee Parish, LA0.533$500 to $5,000
January 219:20 AM GMT-6F3Pontotoc, MS33.8101$50,000 to $500,000
January 219:30 AM GMT-6F2Rankin, MS23.810$5,000 to $50,000
January 219:40 AM GMT-6F2McNairy, TN4.15003$50,000 to $500,000
January 219:45 AM GMT-6F3Leake, MS26.110$5,000 to $50,000
January 2110:30 AM GMT-6F1Marion, MS0.110$5,000 to $50,000
January 2112:30 PM GMT-6F3Grayson, KY6.6103$50,000 to $500,000
January 218:45 PM GMT-5F1Iredell, NC5.2300$5,000 to $50,000
January 219:15 PM GMT-5F1Surry, NC0.3100$5,000 to $50,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.