EF2 tornado, Lexington to West, Mississippi, April 27, 2011

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

1:40 AM CDT (06:40 UTC)

Lifted

1:50 AM CDT (06:50 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

12.3 miles (19.9 km)

Path width

1,760 yards (1609 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

Crop damage

$400,000

County

Holmes County

Touchdown point

33.071, -89.980

Lift-off point

33.169, -89.801

Record number

1104270040-01

A historic outbreak of tornadoes across the Ark-La-Miss began late on Tuesday, April 26th continuing into the early morning hours of Wednesday, April 27th. The event ramped up again during the early afternoon of April 27th continuing into the early evening. The activity on April 26th began as supercell thunderstorms producing large hail and tornadoes across northeast Texas and portions of Arkansas before evolving into a squall line as it moved east. This line of storms had multiple stages of evolution and moved across several states before dissipating. This line was very efficient in producing wind damage as it pushed east. More impressively, this line was responsible for 23 of the 32 tornadoes that occurred across the Ark-La-Miss during this event. Of those 23, 12 were rated as strong (EF2, EF3) tornadoes and had fairly long path lengths.||The atmosphere reloaded quickly Wednesday morning and became increasingly favorable for more severe storms by early afternoon. The driving force for the activity Wednesday afternoon was a potent shortwave and deep surface low that intensified during the day. The winds in the mid levels of the atmosphere increased to 80-100 mph helping to deepen the surface low further, which in turn caused the low level winds to become stronger. The wind shear caused by the turning of the winds from south near the surface to westerly aloft was at rare levels for late April over the Deep South. In addition, an abundance of low level moisture returned to the area in wake of the morning complex. Sunny skies during the morning interacted with the high levels of low level moisture eventually leading to a very unstable air mass by early afternoon. The result was an extremely rare mix of instability and wind shear. These ingredients, along with lift from a potent upper disturbance, ultimately led to the historic tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011.||By early afternoon, several discrete supercell thunderstorms were developing across central and eastern Mississippi. It did not take long for these storms to take on ���classic��� supercell structures and begin producing tornadoes. The first tornado of the afternoon started in Neshoba County on the north side of Philadelphia. This tornado ended up producing EF-5 damage and tracked for 29 miles across Neshoba, Kemper, Winston and Noxubee Counties. Through the rest of the afteroon multiple tornadoes developed, stemming from multiple supercell storms. Nearly all of the storms produced tornadoes, with many of them long track and significant. The other violent tornado to impact the Jackson, MS forecast area occurred across Smith, Jasper, and Clarke Counties. This tornado continued into Alabama and had a total path length of 124 miles across both states.||Loss of life during this historic event was staggering. Unfortunately, 321 people lost their lives making this the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. The March 18, 1925 Tri-State tornado outbreak is first with 747 fatalities. This marks the first EF-5 tornado in Mississippi since the Candlestick Park tornado on May 3, 1966, and this marks the first time since statistics have been kept that two EF-5 tornadoes have been recorded on the same day in Mississippi, with the tornado in Smithville also rated as EF-5. Incredibly, 4 tornadoes had path lengths over 100 miles across the southern states during this event, and all 4 of these were rated either EF-4 or EF-5.

This tornado started near the intersection of State Hwy 433 and Hebron Rd southwest of Lexington. A couple of trees were snapped at the point. The tornado continued northeast across Hwy 17 where a few trees were snapped. The tornado continued northeast where it caused significant damage to a couple of mobile homes on Arenia Mallory Rd along with several trees and a few power poles snapped. The tornado crossed Hwy 12 where it caused some roof damage to a business along with numerous snapped trees. The tornado continued northeast to Doe Rd and this is where it reached its widest point. Hundreds of hard and softwood trees were snapped along with 3 wooded high tension poles. The tornado was rated an EF3 at this point. The tornado continued northeast to Bethesda and Bowling Green Road where hundreds more trees were snapped along with some roof damage to a home. The tornado crossed Hwy 55 just west of West snapping trees and several power poles along the way. The tornado continued northeast to just south of Beatty where it merged with another tornado. Maximum winds were around 140 mph. Total path length across Holmes and Carroll Counties was 23 miles.

The tornado started near Fowler Road, where a few trees were snapped and continued northeast to Highway 12. Here, numerous large hardwood and softwood trees were snapped along with several power poles. The tornado was rated an EF-2 at this point. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Ellington Road, where it snapped several more large hardwood trees. The tornado snapped several more power poles along with several hardwood trees off of Bowling Green Road before it crossed over I-55. The tornado was at its widest point after it crossed I-55, where it snapped numerous trees along County Road 68. The tornado continued northeast and snapped several large trees along Brister Road. The tornado ended near Stran Road, where it snapped numerous soft and hardwood trees, and also damaged the roof of a barn. Maximum winds were around 130 mph.

This tornado crossed through a rural area with no structures. Many trees were blown down along the path and a power pole was blown nearly to the ground along Highway 51. The tornado crossed Highway 51 about one half mile south of the Beatty Community, and downed hundreds of trees as it tracked northeast. Maximum winds were around 115 mph. Total path length across Holmes and Carroll Counties was 9 miles.

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

47 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:53 UTC, 47 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:33 UTC and running to 10:00 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 06:10 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), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:38 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 2011 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

209 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 210 of them

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.