EF1 tornado, Enterprise to Keownville, Mississippi, May 2, 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

May 2, 2008

Touchdown

6:12 PM CDT (23:12 UTC)

Lifted

6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Union County

Touchdown point

34.526, -88.943

Lift-off point

34.552, -88.890

Record number

0805021712-01

A cold front approached the Midsouth during the afternoon hours of May 2nd, 2008, Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed ahead and along the front. Storms quickly became severe and produced large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding and a few tornadoes. The severe weather continued into the early morning hours of May 3rd, 2008 with the passage of the front.

The tornado first touched down in the Enterprise community in Western Union County near County Road 46 where a couple of sheds were destroyed and trees were uprooted. The intensifying tornado moved northeast causing damage to the roofs and exterior walls of several homes. The tornado was at its most powerful as it crossed State Highway 30. A gas station canopy and sign along with several large buildings were damaged. One large metal building suffered moderate damage. There was roof damage to a church and the steeple was knocked down. Many trees were knocked down and several power poles were snapped. A large bus was flipped on to its side. The tornado lifted near County Road 51 or about 2 miles northeast of Enterprise. There was minor damage in this area with several large trees uprooted and minor roof damage to a home. Along the entire track about 20 homes suffered at least some damage.

A tornado touched down in the Glenfield area and the Colonial Gardens subdivision of New Albany and damaged at least 10 homes. In the Glenfield area, a gas station canopy was damaged and several trees were uprooted. Several houses also had minor shingle damage. The tornado intensified as it moved into the Colonial Gardens subdivision where two homes suffered total roof loss along with some exterior wall collapse. More trees were snapped off and uprooted in this area as well.

A tornado tracked non-continuously across the Pleasant Hill and Keownville areas. In the Pleasant Hill area, a home had a porch torn off along with some roof damage. A very large tree was also uprooted. The tornado touched down again along State Highway 30 in Keownville where several grain bins were heavily damaged, a shed was destroyed and several trees were uprooted. Further to the northeast along Highway 30, another home had a partial collapse of a garage wall along with minor damage to the roof.

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

48 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:24 UTC, 48 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:54 UTC and running to 00:53 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 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 19:50 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), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:11 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

39 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.