F3 tornado, Stallo to Noxapater, Mississippi, November 24, 2004

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 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

F3

Date

November 24, 2004

Touchdown

2:25 AM CST (08:25 UTC)

Path length

21.0 miles (33.8 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

2

Property damage

$2.7 million

Counties

Winston, Neshoba and Noxubee counties

Touchdown point

32.920, -89.000

Lift-off point

33.050, -88.720

Record number

1797

A second, slightly stronger tornado, touched down 1 mile to the east southeast of where the first one dissipated. Damage began and remained on Asa Thomas Road as the tornado moved into Winston county. Severe tree damage occurred along Asa Thomas Road along with several power lines blown down. The tornado was on the ground for 1 mile before moving into southeast Winston county where it stayed on the ground for 21 miles across Winston and western Noxubee counties.

This strong tornado moved into Winston county from Neshoba county and tracked northeast for 12 miles before moving into Noxubee county. Just inside the Winston county line four large chicken houses were destroyed. As the tornado tracked northeast across State Route 393 and 397, a few hundred trees were uprooted and snapped. Several homes sustained minor roof damage. One home was totally destroyed on McBrayer Road. Pieces of the home was blown and scattered across a field for 1/4 mile. Here three vehicles were moved with two of them landing on top of tree debris and the other thrown into a ditch. This home was where the two injuries and one fatality occurred. The tornado was at its widest point here and as it tracked northeast hundreds of trees were blown down. The tornado moved into Noxubee county 2 miles southeast of Ferns Springs. The total path length across northern Neshoba, southeast Winston and western Noxubee county was 21 miles.

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.

39 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:46 UTC, 39 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:30 UTC.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:00 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 Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:23 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

49 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.