F1 tornado, Indianola to Dockery, Mississippi, September 24, 2005

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

September 24, 2005

Touchdown

5:02 PM CDT (22:02 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Sunflower County

Touchdown point

33.630, -90.670

Lift-off point

33.630, -90.670

Record number

1183

This tornado touched down off Highway 442 near the Sunflower/Bolivar county line and tracked northwest to around the Boyle Community. As the tornado moved into Bolivar county it crossed Sawmill and Sandpit Roads. The tornado continued moving northwest toward Boyle where it dissipated just northwest of town. Along the path, numerous trees and power lines were damaged or torn down. Additionally, several mobile homes were damaged along with farm equipment. The total path length across Sunflower and Bolivar counties was 10 miles.

This tornado touched down between Cleveland and Ruleville about 3 miles southeast of Dockery in Western Sunflower county. The tornado then tracked northwest into Bolivar county just east of Cleveland and then toward Merigold where it dissipated. As the tornado approached Cleveland it remained over open farm land and caused damage to trees and power lines. The tornado became more intense just east and northeast of Cleveland. Here the most significant damage occurred which was within a swath of nearly 2 miles that extended from the northeast outskirts of Cleveland to the Renova Community. A couple of buildings were severely damage with one commercial storage building totally destroyed. Three mobile homes were destroyed and 5 other homes sustained heavy damage. Three sheds were destroyed and numerous large trees and power poles were taken down. A mid-sized storage tank was thrown 1/4 of a mile into a field and 3 bicycle frames were thrown 1/4 to 1/2 a mile away. The tornado weakened as it moved toward Merigold and dissipated about 1 mile west of Town off Pemble Road. The total path length across Sunflower and Bolivar counties was 13 miles with a maximum width of 200 yards and maximum rating of F2. Additionally, this tornado developed from the same parent storm which produced the Belzoni tornado.

This tornado was photographed by an editor of the Indianola local newspaper as it briefly touched down in an open field for a minute or two then lifted back up. No damage occurred during the brief touchdown.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:09 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 Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 163 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:02 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

51 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.