Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2009

EF0 tornado, Pascagoula, Mississippi, March 26, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Jackson County on March 26, 2009, touching down at 6:33 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $18,000 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
March 26, 2009
Touchdown
6:33 AM CDT (11:33 UTC)
Lifted
6:35 AM CDT (11:35 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$18,000
County
Jackson County
Touchdown point
30.370, -88.530
Lift-off point
30.370, -88.530
Record number
0903260533-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Several episodes of widespread severe weather and heavy rainfall occurred from March 26th through the 28th as a series of strong upper air disturbances impacted the central gulf region as a meandering and nearly stationary frontal boundary drifted back and forth across the area.

A weak tornado briefly touched down causing damage around Tucker Street and 8th Street and on Taylor Street. Pacagoula High School experienced light damage when the scoreboard on the football field was blown down and numerous sections of fence were knocked down with debris littering the field. Traffic lights around the area were knocked down and several trees were blown down. Maximum winds associated with this tornado were estimated around 75 mph with a path length around 250 yards and a maximum width of 50 yards.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 26, 4:01 AM CDT, 2 hours 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 26, 4:01 AM CDT, 2 hours 32 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 26, 6:11 AM CDT, 22 minutes before
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In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 26, 4:07 AM CDT, 2 hours 26 minutes before
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Local storm report, Mar 26, 4:43 AM CDT, 1 hour 50 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Mar 26, 5:04 AM CDT, 1 hour 29 minutes before
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Local storm report, Mar 26, 5:42 AM CDT, 51 minutes before
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Local storm report, Mar 26, 6:07 AM CDT, 26 minutes before
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Local storm report, Mar 26, 6:09 AM CDT, 24 minutes before
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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), 00:00Z

11.6 hours before the tornado, 113 km from the path. March 26, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-03-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1439 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 723 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 2009-03-26The 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 149 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 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
1439 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2247 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
723 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.3
Supercell composite
6.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

0.4 hours after it, 113 km from the path. March 26, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2009-03-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 371 joules per kilogram, CIN -95, lifted condensation level 627 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 2009-03-26The 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 -43 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
371 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-95 J/kg
Surface CAPE
373 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
117 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Pascagoula (PQL), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:31 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.

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 March 26, 2009

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 261:36 AM CDTEF3Simpson, MS17.450025$5.0 million
March 261:58 AM CDTEF1Tangipahoa Parish, LA0.850$60,000
March 262:31 AM CDTEF1Jasper, MS19.45001$2.0 million
March 262:43 AM CDTEF2Jones, MS9.95001$800,000
March 263:20 AM CDTEF1Fayette, AL3.6100$60,000
March 263:43 AM CDTEF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA0.125$750
March 265:04 AM CDTEF0Shelby, AL3.735$15,000
March 266:55 AM CDTEF1Escambia, AL2.41,000$30,000
March 267:20 PM CDTEF0Montague, TX0.230
March 268:34 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.330
March 2611:12 PM CDTEF1Ascension Parish, LA1.850$120,000
March 2611:28 PM CDTEF0Livingston Parish, LA0.2150$3,000

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.