EF1 tornado, Mt Olive to Summerland, Mississippi, May 3, 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

May 3, 2009

Touchdown

11:12 AM CDT (16:12 UTC)

Lifted

11:30 AM CDT (16:30 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

20.1 miles (32.3 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$145,000

Counties

Covington and Smith counties

Touchdown point

31.678, -89.670

Lift-off point

31.808, -89.367

Record number

0905031012-01

Early on the 3rd, clusters of severe storms evolved into a line which produced scattered wind damage as it pushed east along and just north of I-20. An outflow boundary pushed out of this line and provided the focus for the second powerful and significant severe event.||Between 8 am and 1 pm, a Derecho evolved and raced east across the southern half of the forecast area at 60 to 70 mph. A Derecho is defined as a long lived windstorm, usually a large bow echo, which has a width of 40 to 250 miles and covers a long distance, typically one to three states. This large bowing squall line brought intense straight line winds and widespread damage across its swath. Some of the wind speeds within this Derecho ranged between 80 and 95 mph. There were numerous reports of trees down as well as downed power lines, which caused widespread power outages in many locations. Many structures were damaged by either fallen trees or just the wind itself. Scattered reports of hail and a few tornadoes also occurred. One fatality occurred in Jones County as a tree fell through a woman���s mobile home.||During the early predawn hours of May 4th. Isolated severe storms affected northern Forest county with some flash flooding.

The tornado began and tracked across rural northeast Jefferson Davis County, far northwest Covington County and then into southeast Simpson County. Snapped and uprooted large hardwood and softwood trees occurred along the path. The most intense damage occurred in the Saratoga Community in southeast Simpson County. A travel trailer was completely destroyed and two chicken houses were heavily damaged. Snapped pine trees fell on a church and damaged a roof and some shingle damage occurred on a few other homes. Skirting was blown off of a mobile home and a chicken house was damaged near the Simpson and Smith county line. Maximum winds were 100 mph. The track began three miles north of Clem and ended four miles north northeast of Mount Olive. Total path length across the 3 counties was around 9 miles.

This tornado touched down just south of Mt. Olive and tracked generally northeast into southeast Smith County near Taylorsville. Along the path, numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. A tree fell on a house just south of Mt. Olive and several signs were downed and a TV antenna was bent. Several houses also received shingle damage. The total path was around 20 miles with maximum winds around 100 mph.

This tornado touched down just south of Mt. Olive and tracked generally northeast into southeast Smith County near Taylorsville. Along the path, numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. A tree fell on a house just south of Mt. Olive and several signs were downed and a TV antenna was bent. Several houses also received shingle damage. The total path was around 20 miles with maximum winds around 100 mph.

This tornado began 4 miles east of Taylorsville, tracked northeast into western Jasper County, and ended 1.7 miles northwest of Stringer. Maximum winds were around 100 mph, with a total path length around 5 miles. A chicken house was destroyed and another damaged. Roof damage occurred to a mobile home and a shed. Numerous pines were snapped and some oak trees were blown down.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 12:50 UTC and running to 18:02 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:30 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), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:11 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 2009 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.