Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2006

F0 tornado, Hot Coffee, Mississippi, March 20, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 4.0 miles across Covington County on March 20, 2006, touching down at 12:32 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
March 20, 2006
Touchdown
12:32 PM CST (18:32 UTC)
Path length
4.0 miles (6.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Covington County
Touchdown point
31.720, -89.450
Lift-off point
31.770, -89.420
Record number
162

What the Weather Service recorded

This weak tornado snapped and downed a number of trees around Hot Coffee.

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

The warnings

33 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:59 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:54 UTC and running to 21:41 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:54 UTC21:41 UTCTornado WatchJAN
17:59 UTC18:45 UTCTornado WarningJAN
20:41 UTC21:30 UTCTornado WarningJAN
21:41 UTC23:38 UTCTornado WatchJAN

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate 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 16:30 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 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 (KJAN), 12:00Z

6.5 hours before the tornado, 88 km from the path. March 20, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2006-03-20Temperature 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 -87061, lifted condensation level 551 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2006-03-20The 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 420 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87061 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
551 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
420 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
432 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

5.5 hours after it, 88 km from the path. March 21, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2006-03-21Temperature 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 -42033, lifted condensation level 750 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2006-03-21The 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 -127 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 72 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-42033 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
750 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
72 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-3 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pine Belt Regional Awos (PIB), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:35 UTC64.460.8130° 9 kt1008.1
16:55 UTC64.460.8120° 9 kt1007.5
17:15 UTC64.460.8140° 10 kt1007.1
17:35 UTC66.262.6140° 11 kt151006.1
17:55 UTC6855.4140° 10 kt141005.8
18:15 UTC69.855.4150° 12 kt1005.1
18:35 UTC69.862.6190° 18 kt231005.4
18:55 UTC71.666.2190° 17 kt211005.1
19:15 UTC71.666.2180° 22 kt271005.1
19:35 UTC71.666.2170° 19 kt261004.4
19:55 UTC71.666.2180° 15 kt251003.7
20:15 UTC71.666.2180° 14 kt251003.7

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:32 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:30 UTCHAIL 0.753 S MizeSmith, MS1/2 TO 3/4 INCH HAIL ALONG HWY 35 SOUTH OF MIZE.
18:30 UTCTORNADO 01 E Hot CoffeeCovington, MSNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY TEAM FOUND A TORNADO TRACK THAT EXTENDED ALONG A 4 MILE TRACK JUST SOUTH AND EAST OF THE TOWN OF HOT COFFEE. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED IN HALF AND A FEW WERE KNOCKED DOWN.
18:45 UTCTORNADO 04 Nne HebronJones, MSSOUTHERN PINE ELECTRIC PERSONNEL OBSERVED THIS WEAK TORNADO CROSSING HIGHWAY 28 BETWEEN SUMMERLAND AND GITANO IN EXTREME NORTHWEST JONES COUNTY. THE DAMAGE FROM THIS TORNADO BEGAN WITH SOME DOWNED TREES ON CARTER DEE ROA
20:28 UTCHAIL 0.88New HebronLawrence, MSALSO IN SILVER CREEK.
20:34 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw PrentissJefferson Davis, MSTREES DOWN ACROSS WEST ST. STEPHENS AND RG ROGERS ROADS.
20:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGPrentissJefferson Davis, MSMAJOR ROOF DAMAGE TO RESIDENCE AND STOP SIGN BLOWN DOWN IN TOWN.
20:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGBassfieldJefferson Davis, MSCOUPLE OF POWERLINES BLOWN DOWN.
20:55 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDCollinsCovington, MSREPOTED NEAR COLLINS.
20:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N CollinsCovington, MSCLUSTER OF TREES SNAPPED IN HALF WITHIN INDUSTRIAL PARK A FEW MILES NORTH OF COLLINS. REPORTED BY COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT.
21:00 UTCFLASH FLOODPrentissJefferson Davis, MSHILL AND SILVER SWAMP ROADS CLOSED DUE TO WATER FLOWING ACROSS THEM.
21:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGTaylorsvilleSmith, MSTREES DOWN ALONG RURAL ROADS NEAR TAYLORSVILLE.
21:05 UTCTORNADO 01 E Hot CoffeeCovington, MSNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY TEAM FOUND A TORNADO TRACK THAT EXTENDED ALONG A 4 MILE TRACK JUST SOUTH AND EAST OF THE TOWN OF HOT COFFEE. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED IN HALF AND A FEW WERE KNOCKED DOWN.
21:13 UTCHAIL 0.75HebronJones, MS
21:15 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD12 Nw LaurelJasper, MSFUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF SERVICE ROAD AND SPRINGHILL ROAD. TREES ALSO REPORTED DOWN.
21:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGStringerJasper, MSNUMEROUS TREES DOWN AROUND THE AREA.
21:15 UTCHAIL 0.53 E StringerJasper, MS
21:15 UTCHAIL 0.88StringerJasper, MS
21:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Nw LaurelJones, MSWIDESPREAD TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN NEAR SHADY GROVE COMMUNITY. ALSO CANOPY BLOWN OFF OF A SERVICE STATION.
21:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Nw LaurelJones, MSWIDESPREAD TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN NEAR SHADY GROVE COMMUNITY. ALSO CANOPY BLOWN OFF OF A SERVICE STATION.
21:20 UTCTORNADO 18 Nw LaurelJones, MSNUMEROUS TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN NEAR SHADY GROVE COMMUNITY. ALSO CANOPY BLOWN OFF OF A SERVICE STATION. A NWS SURVEY TEAM SURVEYED THIS STORM AND RATED IT AN F1. THE TRACK WAS 50 YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST PATH AND THE

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 20, 2006

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 2012:45 PM CSTF0Jones, MS3.050$20,000
March 203:20 PM CSTF1Jones, MS8.050$100,000
March 204:10 PM CSTF1Lamar, MS3.0501$500,000
March 204:18 PM CSTF0Dewey, OK0.220$10,000
March 205:53 PM CSTF0Logan, OK0.220
March 206:10 PM CSTF0Logan, OK0.120

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.