EF1 tornado, Montrose to Chunky, Mississippi, March 26, 2009

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

March 26, 2009

Touchdown

2:31 AM CDT (07:31 UTC)

Lifted

2:57 AM CDT (07:57 UTC)

On the ground

26 minutes

Path length

19.4 miles (31.2 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$2.0 million

Crop damage

$250,000

Counties

Jasper and Newton counties

Touchdown point

32.120, -89.220

Lift-off point

32.244, -88.922

Record number

0903260131-01

A round of severe thunderstorms, containing tornadoes and damaging straight line winds, occurred Wednesday night, March 25, into early Thursday morning, March 26. These storms developed as a strong upper level disturbance encountered an unstable environment over the lower Mississippi Valley. A squall line of showers and thunderstorms pushed rapidly eastward across the area. One supercell storm formed ahead of the main line and produced a strong tornado which hit the town of Magee.||Eight tornadoes were confirmed from this event. Of the 8 tornadoes, 1 was rated EF3, 1 was rated EF2, 4 were rated EF1, and 2 were rated EF0. Numerous other locations experienced damaging straight line winds in excess of 60-70 mph. The worst damage occurred from a tornado which laid a 17.5 mile long track across Simpson and Smith counties. This storm was rated as EF3 with estimated 150 mph maximum winds near Magee. A second strong tornado, rated EF2 with 125 mph winds, effected Jones County near Soso.

This tornado started just off of County Road 20, on private property, about 1 mile ESE of Montrose. Several trees were uprooted/snapped at this location and again just to the east along County Road 206. The tornado moved across several miles of wooded bottom land before crossing County Road 2414. Substantial damage occurred along County Road 2414, 4 homes were heavily damaged. The worst was where a home on pillars was pushed off its blocks. One quarter of the roof was heavily damaged. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted with 2 large trees down through a mobile home. An ATV was rolled down a hill over 100 yards. The tornado then crossed Highway 503 and destroyed an old church building. The weakly fastened roof was blown off and then the walls collapsed inward. Numerous trees and several power lines snapped. Path width was around 500 yds at this point. The tornado continued to the ENE through northern Jasper County. Another home was pushed off its pillars and peeled all the tin off the roof, this occurred on County Road 24. The tornado then crossed County Road 2422 and downed many more trees, tore part of the roof off one home and damaged an old shed. Another old structure had some of the tin roof peeled off. The tornado crossed into Newton County at 2:52 am. It then crossed Griffis Fountain Road. The tornado crossed Parks Mill Road and dissipated just to the east of that point. Many trees were damaged along Parks Mill Road. The total path length across both counties was 19 miles. Maximum winds were around 110 mph.

This tornado started just off of County Road 20, on private property, about 1 mile ESE of Montrose. Several trees were uprooted/snapped at this location and again just to the east along County Road 206. The tornado moved across several miles of wooded bottom land before crossing County Road 2414. Substantial damage occurred along County Road 2414, 4 homes were heavily damaged. The worst was where a home on pillars was pushed off its blocks. One quarter of the roof was heavily damaged. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted with 2 large trees down through a mobile home. An ATV was rolled down a hill over 100 yards. The tornado then crossed Highway 503 and destroyed an old church building. The weakly fastened roof was blown off and then the walls collapsed inward. Numerous trees and several power lines snapped. Path width was around 500 yds at this point. The tornado continued to the ENE through northern Jasper County. Another home was pushed off its pillars and peeled all the tin off the roof, this occurred on County Road 24. The tornado then crossed County Road 2422 and downed many more trees, tore part of the roof off one home and damaged an old shed. Another old structure had some of the tin roof peeled off. The tornado crossed into Newton County at 2:52 am. It then crossed Griffis Fountain Road. The tornado crossed Parks Mill Road and dissipated just to the east of that point. Many trees were damaged along Parks Mill Road. The total path length across both counties was 19 miles. Maximum winds were around 110 mph.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:16 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:32 UTC and running to 09:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:33 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), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:31 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.

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 2009 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.