EF1 tornado, St Ann to Remus, Mississippi, April 18, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

April 18, 2008

Touchdown

5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)

Lifted

5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.5 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$160,000

County

Leake County

Touchdown point

32.920, -89.584

Lift-off point

32.932, -89.561

Record number

0804181618-01

A strong storm system and cold front evolved over the region and brought first a steady area of light to moderate rain to the western half of the forecast area. As the rain shield dissipated during mid afternoon, enough instability developed and combined with increasing wind shear. These ingredients set the stage for a round of severe weather. Seven tornadoes occurred across portions of central Mississippi along with a few scattered reports of wind damage. All tornadoes were of the EF-1 variety.

This tornado moved into western Leake County from Madison County and tracked northeast for a couple miles. Total path length was 7.5 miles with maximum winds around 105 mph. Many trees were snapped and uprooted along the path.

This tornado touched down in the Dossville Community, it was on the ground for a little over a mile and was 75 yards wide. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along with a garage destroyed and a mobile home sustaining significant roof damage. Maximum winds were around 110 mph.

This tornado began in the Marydell Community just along Highway 25 in northeast Leake County. The tornado tracked northeast into southwest Winston County. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along the path with one old chicken house destroyed. Maximum wind were around 105 mph. Total path length across Leake and Winston Counties was 8 miles.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:49 UTC and running to 00:30 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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:57 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), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:17 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 2008 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.