F1 tornado, Louisville, Mississippi, November 10, 2002

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.

Rating

F1

Date

November 10, 2002

Touchdown

7:20 PM CST (01:20 UTC)

Path length

51.0 miles (82.1 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

0

Property damage

$140,000

Counties

Winston, Oktibbeha, Noxubee, Lowndes and Pickens counties

Touchdown point

33.220, -88.950

Lift-off point

33.400, -88.250

Record number

896

A tornado touched down at 7:20 PM, about 2 miles northwest of the community of Webster. It moved northeast across rural areas of Northeast Winston County, resulting in tree damage. After travelling about 12.5 miles, this tornado moved into Noxubee County, about 1.5 miles southeast of Winston.

This tornado originally developed in Winston County, almost 8 miles northeast of Louisville. It moved about 8 miles across extreme northwestern Noxubee County before exiting the county 7 miles northwest of Brooksville around 7:41 PM. As the tornado moved through rural areas of Noxubee County, it destroyed numerous trees.

A tornado formed in Lowndes County, about 2 miles southwest of New Hope, destroying many trees as it moved northeast. The tornado then moved into Pickens County, Alabama, about 3 miles east-northeast of New Hope (near Forest, Alabama).

This tornado originally developed in Winston County, almost 8 miles northeast of Louisville around 7:20 PM. After moving through northwestern parts of Noxubee County, it briefly moved across extreme Southeast Oktibbeha County, resulting in the destruction of many trees. The tornado moved out of Oktibbeha County around 7:45 PM about 15.5 miles southeast of Starkville.

The third tornado of the evening in Alabama, the Stafford Tornado, moved into Pickens County from Mississippi, at 7:42 pm just northwest of Stafford. This tornado, rated an F1 in Alabama, stayed over mostly rural land downing trees. The path length in Alabama was 4.5 miles, and the width about 75 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported in Alabama.Beg: 33 27.623/88 17.036 End: 33 28.267/88 12.269

This tornado originally developed in Winston County, almost 8 miles northeast of Louisville around 7:20 PM. After moving through parts of Noxubee and Oktibbeha Counties, the tornado moved into Southwest Lowndes County around 7:45 PM. As it moved through the town of Crawford, a man was killed while trying to warn his neighbors of the impending storm. Several homes and trees were also destroyed. The tornado moved into Pickens County, Alabama about 4.5 miles southeast of New Hope around 8:15 PM.

An F1 tornado moved out of Mississippi into Alabama about 4.3 miles west-southwest of Ethelsville. The weak tornado was the fifth tornado of the evening in Alabama and moved across mostly wooded and clear cut areas downing a few trees. The tornado damage in Alabama was only F0.Beg: 33 24.268/88 17.425 End: 33 24.682/88 15.352

The tornado formed about 6 miles south of Louisville around 8:20 PM. It moved east-northeast, completely destroying two mobile homes and damaging several other homes and outbuildings. Numerous trees were also snapped and uprooted. The tornado dissipated approximately 12 miles east of Louisville around 8:40 PM.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a High Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:23 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

63 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 64 of them

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.

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