Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2009

EF0 tornado, Logtown to Bay St Louis, Mississippi, April 2, 2009

From Logtown to Bay St Louis, this EF0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Hancock County on April 2, 2009, touching down at 1:50 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $2,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

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

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
April 2, 2009
Touchdown
1:50 PM CDT (18:50 UTC)
Lifted
1:54 PM CDT (18:54 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.3 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2,000
County
Hancock County
Touchdown point
30.268, -89.586
Lift-off point
30.269, -89.562
Record number
0904021250-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A potent upper level storm system moving across the lower Mississippi Valley and an associated strong cold front resulted in an outbreak of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across portions of southern Mississippi.

A weak tornado with estimated winds of 70 to 80 mph touched down near the intersection of Whites Road and Whipple Road. The tornado snapped trees in half in this area. The tornado then moved to the east through forested areas approximately 1.5 miles before ending near the intersection of Whites Road and U.S. Highway 90 where tree damage was again observed.

A weak tornado was briefly observed near the coast between Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

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

The warnings

9 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:41 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:35 UTC and running to 19:26 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:00 UTC12:00 UTCWind AdvisoryLIX
16:35 UTC19:26 UTCTornado WatchLIX
18:21 UTC18:45 UTCTornado WarningLIX
18:32 UTC19:05 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIX
18:41 UTC19:15 UTCTornado WarningLIX
18:55 UTC19:30 UTCTornado WarningLIX
19:00 UTC19:28 UTCHigh Wind WatchLIX

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:40 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

6.8 hours before the tornado, 12 km from the path. April 2, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2009-04-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 985 joules per kilogram, CIN -112, lifted condensation level 1483 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 2009-04-02The 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 304 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
985 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-112 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2205 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1483 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
304 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
443 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
16.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

5.2 hours after it, 12 km from the path. April 3, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-04-03Temperature 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 -35680, lifted condensation level 1204 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-04-03The 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 106 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
-35680 J/kg
Surface CAPE
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1204 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
179 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 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
18:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGPearlingtonHancock, MSEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT REPORTS TREES WERE SNAPPED IN HALF NEAR PEARLINGTON.
18:50 UTCTORNADO1 Ene PearlingtonHancock, MSNWS STORM SURVEY DETERMINED A EF0 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED WINDS OF 70-80 MPH WINDS TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF WHITES RD AND WHIPPLE RD. THE TORNADO SNAPPED TREES IN HALF IN THIS AREA. THE TORNADO THEN MOVED TO
19:02 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDWavelandHancock, MSFUNNEL CLOUD WAS OBSERVED NEAR LAKE SHORE MIDDLE SCHOOL.
19:05 UTCTORNADOBay St. LouisHancock, MSTORNADO SPOTTED NEAR THE COAST BETWEEN BAY ST LOUIS AND WAVELAND.
19:15 UTCHAIL 0.75PearlingtonHancock, MS
19:15 UTCNON-TSTM WND DMGPearlingtonHancock, MSTREES AND POWER LINES WERE REPORTED DOWN ALONG MS STATE HIGHWAY 604.
19:19 UTCTSTM WND GST 70Long BeachHarrison, MSSOUTH WIND ESTIMATED GUST TO 70 MPH REPORTED BY NWS EMPLOYEE IN LONG BEACH.
19:23 UTCHAIL 0.75GulfportHarrison, MSSHERIFFS OFFFICE REPORTS PENNY SIZE HAIL AT EDGEWATER MALL BETWEEN GULFPORT AND BILOXI.
19:23 UTCHAIL 0.88GulfportHarrison, MSNICKLE SIZE HAIL WAS OBSERVED AT THE GULFPORT COURTHOUSE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 2, 2009

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 212:13 PM CDTEF0Livingston Parish, LA0.225$2,000
April 212:40 PM CDTEF0Pike, MS0.120
April 22:05 PM CDTEF0Hancock, MS0.220
April 22:45 PM CDTEF0Jackson, MS0.225$50,000
April 23:15 PM CDTEF0Lamar, AL0.010
April 23:43 PM CDTEF1Tuscaloosa, AL0.6150$5,000
April 23:46 PM CDTEF1Colbert, AL0.375$33,000
April 24:00 PM CDTEF1Davidson, TN2.01001$500,000
April 25:25 PM EDTEF0Gadsden, FL0.325
April 24:35 PM CDTEF0Limestone, AL1.750$11,000
April 25:26 PM CDTEF1Morgan, AL1.2200$66,000
April 26:42 PM CDTEF0Chickasaw, MS0.6100
April 27:23 PM CDTEF1Monroe, MS2.875
April 28:09 PM CDTEF0Madison, AL0.650$8,000

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.