Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2006

F1 tornado, Purvis, Mississippi, March 20, 2006

This F1 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Lamar County on March 20, 2006, touching down at 4:10 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $500,000 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
Date
March 20, 2006
Touchdown
4:10 PM CST (22:10 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$500,000
County
Lamar County
Touchdown point
31.230, -89.450
Lift-off point
31.220, -89.420
Record number
165

What the Weather Service recorded

This tornado touched down just north of the Pine Ridge Community and tracked east-northeast for 3 miles. One person was injured when they were blown across a concrete patio. The most extensive damage occurred along Widden Road. Here one two-story home had the roof partially torn off and the back deck heavily damaged. Another home sustained significant roof damage along with the back deck destroyed. A third home had its deck damaged along with numerous trees uprooted or snapped along the path.

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

The warnings

26 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:44 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:41 UTC and running to 23:38 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:54 UTC21:41 UTCTornado WatchJAN
21:41 UTC23:38 UTCTornado WatchJAN
21:44 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningJAN

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 19:38 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.

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 12:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 111 km from the path. March 20, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA 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 301 joules per kilogram, CIN -98, lifted condensation level 601 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, Slidell Radar S, LA 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 265 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 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
301 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-98 J/kg
Surface CAPE
115 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
601 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
265 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
515 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 00:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 111 km from the path. March 21, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA 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 906 joules per kilogram, CIN -48, lifted condensation level 921 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, Slidell Radar S, LA 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 229 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 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
906 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-48 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1086 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
921 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
229 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
266 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
6.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
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 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
21:53 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDW HattiesburgForrest, MSREPORTED ON HWY 98 ON THE WEST SIDE OF HATTIESBURG.
21:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGNw HattiesburgForrest, MSTREES REPORTED DOWN.
22:10 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N PurvisLamar, MSSTRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND TREES DOWN ALONG WIDDEN ROAD.
22:10 UTCTORNADO 14 N PurvisLamar, MS*** 1 INJ *** STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND TREES DOWN ALONG WIDDEN ROAD. A NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TEAM SURVEYED THIS STORM AND FOUND F1 DAMAGE ALONG A 3 MILE PATH AND ITS WIDEST TRACK WAS 50 YARDS. THE ROOF WAS TORN OFF THE D
22:33 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD5 W Camp ShelbyForrest, MS
23:05 UTCFLOODColumbiaMarion, MSMINOR STREET FLOODING REPORTED IN TOWN.

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 2012:32 PM CSTF0Covington, MS4.050
March 2012:45 PM CSTF0Jones, MS3.050$20,000
March 203:20 PM CSTF1Jones, MS8.050$100,000
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.