EF4 Enterprise tornado, Mississippi and Alabama, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF4

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

5:42 PM CDT (22:42 UTC)

Lifted

8:35 PM CDT (01:35 UTC)

On the ground

173 minutes

Path length

122.0 miles (196.4 km)

Path width

1,050 yards (960 m)

Deaths

7

Injuries

17

Property damage

$26 million

Crop damage

$2,100,000

Counties

Smith, Jasper, Clarke, Choctaw, Sumter, Marengo and Perry counties

Touchdown point

32.030, -89.504

Lift-off point

32.483, -87.494

Record number

1104271642-03

22 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Few large limbs twisted out of tops of trees. Start point of Marion EF-1 Tornado.
• Grain silo destroyed. Also 1 powerline pole leaning to the southeast.
• Several oak and cedar trees snapped off at top with large limbs snapped. End point of Pin Hook EF-2 Tornado (EF-4 Overall)
• 2 barns to the south of the tornado central vortex lost roofing panels on south side of barn. Also a few large oak trees downed nearby.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

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.

On the afternoon and evening of 27 April 2011, a historic outbreak of large, very damaging tornadoes occurred over the southern United States. The majority of the tornadoes occurred across the northern half of Mississippi and Alabama, however along the southern edge of the severe thunderstorm complex a supercell thunderstorm formed just southeast of Jackson Mississippi and tracked eastward across northern Choctaw County Alabama before moving into portions of south central Alabama. This supercell thunderstorm produced a continuous tornado track that was nearly 123 miles long.

This tornado started by downing some trees just southeast of Raleigh, near and across Highway 18. As the tornado moved northeast along Bailey Road and crossed County Road 130, it intensified and produced high end EF-1 damage, snapping and uprooting trees, taking shingles off roofs, and blowing skirting out from mobile homes. The tornado continued to strengthen as it moved northeast, and along County Roads 136, 107, and 105, it produced damage indicative of high end EF-2. A few mobile homes were destroyed and several homes and buildings sustained significant roof damage, along with extensive tree damage. Along County Road 105, a mobile home was picked up by the tornado, bounced along the ground a couple of times, and was then thrown into woods across the road, with debris scattered for at least a mile downstream, including the frame of the mobile home. The occupant of the mobile home was the first fatality of this tornado. The tornado continued northeast, and reached its most intense and widest point in the Smith County portion of the tornado just before crossing the county line at County Road 103. Here, in the central core of the tornado there was an area of completely mowed down pine trees in which everyone was snapped and many were denuded, and two frame homes had the roofs and exterior walls completely destroyed with extensive damage to interior walls. In addition, many power poles were snapped, a mobile home was annihilated, and a large shop building was completely destroyed. The damage here was rated high end EF-3 with maximum estimated winds of 160 mph.||The tornado remained intense as it crossed into Jasper County and moved across County Road 13, causing very impressive tree damage with nearly every pine tree snapped and extensive evidence of denuding and debarking. Power poles were also snapped. The tornado produced similar type damage as it crossed County Road 16. The tornado then produced its first area of EF-4 damage just northwest of Louin along County Road 164. Here, the tornado struck an area with several mobile homes and one frame home. The frame home was completely destroyed, with most interior walls down and some of the foundation pushed clean. Several mobile homes in the area, including two double wides which the residents said were well strapped down, were completely destroyed with the debris and frames blown great distances. In fact, all of the debris was so dispersed and mixed that it was impossible for the surveyors to reconstruct the positions of the mobile homes and house without explanations from the residents. Two people were killed in a mobile home at this spot; however, several other people abandoned their mobile homes after hearing warnings to shelter in a nearby brick home, and were certainly saved from serious injury or death. ||After crossing Highway 15, the tornado weakened and narrowed somewhat. As it crossed County Road 23, it produced EF-2 damage, destroying two mobile homes and causing extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado then produced a relatively narrow path of EF-1 tree and powerline damage for several miles, until reintensifying near Rose Hill. As the tornado crossed Highway 18 southeast of Rose Hill, it removed most of the roof of a frame home and caused heavy damage to the exterior walls, took a large section of roof off another frame home, completely destroyed a large tied down mobile home, and caused extensive tree damage. This damage was rated at the low end of EF-3. After causing this damage, the tornado weakened again, causing mainly EF-1 type tree damage until it reached the Clarke County line, with the last point inside the county line on County Road 22 rated as EF-0, with just a few trees and limbs down. ||The tornado then continued into Clarke County and reintensified somewhat, causing tree and powerline damage as it crossed Interstate 59 and US Highway 11. The tornado then became much more intense as it moved along the south side of the town of Enterprise. A number of homes and mobile homes were heavily damaged or destroyed along County Road 320 and State Highway 513. This damage was rated as high EF-2 to low end EF-3. As the tornado passed along a two mile stretch of State Highway 519 east of Enterprise, it heavily damaged several frame homes and caused extensive tree damage. One spot here was the other area of EF-4 damage produced by this tornado. A new construction frame home was completely leveled with the debris swept off the foundation. Residents in the area reported that the house was nearly completed. Based on these reports and the extent of other nearby, primarily tree, damage, this damage is being rated EF-4 with maximum winds of 175 mph. Other damage in this general area was rated as high end EF-2 or low end EF-3. ||The tornado weakened slightly again as it crossed US Highway 45 and State Highway 145, and then caused high end EF-2 and low end EF-3 damage at County Roads 456 and 457. Here, several strapped down double wide mobile homes were destroyed with debris strewn over long distances. Nearby residents reported that one of the mobile homes was occupied by 11 persons at the time of the tornado, and that this was the location where 4 people were killed. Another resident of a nearby mobile home was critically injured. From here, the tornado passed east northeast, just north of the Energy and Snell communities, causing EF-2 damage to a number of frame homes along with extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado crossed Highway 514 northeast of Snell, still causing extensive tree damage and significant roof damage to several large frame homes, before moving across the state line into Choctaw County, Alabama. The tornado continued into Alabama for 59 miles, bringing the total path length to 124 miles.

This tornado started by downing some trees just southeast of Raleigh, near and across Highway 18. As the tornado moved northeast along Bailey Road and crossed County Road 130, it intensified and produced high end EF-1 damage, snapping and uprooting trees, taking shingles off roofs, and blowing skirting out from mobile homes. The tornado continued to strengthen as it moved northeast, and along County Roads 136, 107, and 105, it produced damage indicative of high end EF-2. A few mobile homes were destroyed and several homes and buildings sustained significant roof damage, along with extensive tree damage. Along County Road 105, a mobile home was picked up by the tornado, bounced along the ground a couple of times, and was then thrown into woods across the road, with debris scattered for at least a mile downstream, including the frame of the mobile home. The occupant of the mobile home was the first fatality of this tornado. The tornado continued northeast, and reached its most intense and widest point in the Smith County portion of the tornado just before crossing the county line at County Road 103. Here, in the central core of the tornado there was an area of completely mowed down pine trees in which everyone was snapped and many were denuded, and two frame homes had the roofs and exterior walls completely destroyed with extensive damage to interior walls. In addition, many power poles were snapped, a mobile home was annihilated, and a large shop building was completely destroyed. The damage here was rated high end EF-3 with maximum estimated winds of 160 mph.||The tornado remained intense as it crossed into Jasper County and moved across County Road 13, causing very impressive tree damage with nearly every pine tree snapped and extensive evidence of denuding and debarking. Power poles were also snapped. The tornado produced similar type damage as it crossed County Road 16. The tornado then produced its first area of EF-4 damage just northwest of Louin along County Road 164. Here, the tornado struck an area with several mobile homes and one frame home. The frame home was completely destroyed, with most interior walls down and some of the foundation pushed clean. Several mobile homes in the area, including two double wides which the residents said were well strapped down, were completely destroyed with the debris and frames blown great distances. In fact, all of the debris was so dispersed and mixed that it was impossible for the surveyors to reconstruct the positions of the mobile homes and house without explanations from the residents. Two people were killed in a mobile home at this spot; however, several other people abandoned their mobile homes after hearing warnings to shelter in a nearby brick home, and were certainly saved from serious injury or death. ||After crossing Highway 15, the tornado weakened and narrowed somewhat. As it crossed County Road 23, it produced EF-2 damage, destroying two mobile homes and causing extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado then produced a relatively narrow path of EF-1 tree and powerline damage for several miles, until reintensifying near Rose Hill. As the tornado crossed Highway 18 southeast of Rose Hill, it removed most of the roof of a frame home and caused heavy damage to the exterior walls, took a large section of roof off another frame home, completely destroyed a large tied down mobile home, and caused extensive tree damage. This damage was rated at the low end of EF-3. After causing this damage, the tornado weakened again, causing mainly EF-1 type tree damage until it reached the Clarke County line, with the last point inside the county line on County Road 22 rated as EF-0, with just a few trees and limbs down. ||The tornado then continued into Clarke County and reintensified somewhat, causing tree and powerline damage as it crossed Interstate 59 and US Highway 11. The tornado then became much more intense as it moved along the south side of the town of Enterprise. A number of homes and mobile homes were heavily damaged or destroyed along County Road 320 and State Highway 513. This damage was rated as high EF-2 to low end EF-3. As the tornado passed along a two mile stretch of State Highway 519 east of Enterprise, it heavily damaged several frame homes and caused extensive tree damage. One spot here was the other area of EF-4 damage produced by this tornado. A new construction frame home was completely leveled with the debris swept off the foundation. Residents in the area reported that the house was nearly completed. Based on these reports and the extent of other nearby, primarily tree, damage, this damage is being rated EF-4 with maximum winds of 175 mph. Other damage in this general area was rated as high end EF-2 or low end EF-3. ||The tornado weakened slightly again as it crossed US Highway 45 and State Highway 145, and then caused high end EF-2 and low end EF-3 damage at County Roads 456 and 457. Here, several strapped down double wide mobile homes were destroyed with debris strewn over long distances. Nearby residents reported that one of the mobile homes was occupied by 11 persons at the time of the tornado, and that this was the location where 4 people were killed. Another resident of a nearby mobile home was critically injured. From here, the tornado passed east northeast, just north of the Energy and Snell communities, causing EF-2 damage to a number of frame homes along with extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado crossed Highway 514 northeast of Snell, still causing extensive tree damage and significant roof damage to several large frame homes, before moving across the state line into Choctaw County, Alabama. The tornado continued into Alabama for 59 miles, bringing the total path length to 124 miles.

This tornado started by downing some trees just southeast of Raleigh, near and across Highway 18. As the tornado moved northeast along Bailey Road and crossed County Road 130, it intensified and produced high end EF-1 damage, snapping and uprooting trees, taking shingles off roofs, and blowing skirting out from mobile homes. The tornado continued to strengthen as it moved northeast, and along County Roads 136, 107, and 105, it produced damage indicative of high end EF-2. A few mobile homes were destroyed and several homes and buildings sustained significant roof damage, along with extensive tree damage. Along County Road 105, a mobile home was picked up by the tornado, bounced along the ground a couple of times, and was then thrown into woods across the road, with debris scattered for at least a mile downstream, including the frame of the mobile home. The occupant of the mobile home was the first fatality of this tornado. The tornado continued northeast, and reached its most intense and widest point in the Smith County portion of the tornado just before crossing the county line at County Road 103. Here, in the central core of the tornado there was an area of completely mowed down pine trees in which everyone was snapped and many were denuded, and two frame homes had the roofs and exterior walls completely destroyed with extensive damage to interior walls. In addition, many power poles were snapped, a mobile home was annihilated, and a large shop building was completely destroyed. The damage here was rated high end EF-3 with maximum estimated winds of 160 mph.||The tornado remained intense as it crossed into Jasper County and moved across County Road 13, causing very impressive tree damage with nearly every pine tree snapped and extensive evidence of denuding and debarking. Power poles were also snapped. The tornado produced similar type damage as it crossed County Road 16. The tornado then produced its first area of EF-4 damage just northwest of Louin along County Road 164. Here, the tornado struck an area with several mobile homes and one frame home. The frame home was completely destroyed, with most interior walls down and some of the foundation pushed clean. Several mobile homes in the area, including two double wides which the residents said were well strapped down, were completely destroyed with the debris and frames blown great distances. In fact, all of the debris was so dispersed and mixed that it was impossible for the surveyors to reconstruct the positions of the mobile homes and house without explanations from the residents. Two people were killed in a mobile home at this spot; however, several other people abandoned their mobile homes after hearing warnings to shelter in a nearby brick home, and were certainly saved from serious injury or death. ||After crossing Highway 15, the tornado weakened and narrowed somewhat. As it crossed County Road 23, it produced EF-2 damage, destroying two mobile homes and causing extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado then produced a relatively narrow path of EF-1 tree and powerline damage for several miles, until reintensifying near Rose Hill. As the tornado crossed Highway 18 southeast of Rose Hill, it removed most of the roof of a frame home and caused heavy damage to the exterior walls, took a large section of roof off another frame home, completely destroyed a large tied down mobile home, and caused extensive tree damage. This damage was rated at the low end of EF-3. After causing this damage, the tornado weakened again, causing mainly EF-1 type tree damage until it reached the Clarke County line, with the last point inside the county line on County Road 22 rated as EF-0, with just a few trees and limbs down. ||The tornado then continued into Clarke County and reintensified somewhat, causing tree and powerline damage as it crossed Interstate 59 and US Highway 11. The tornado then became much more intense as it moved along the south side of the town of Enterprise. A number of homes and mobile homes were heavily damaged or destroyed along County Road 320 and State Highway 513. This damage was rated as high EF-2 to low end EF-3. As the tornado passed along a two mile stretch of State Highway 519 east of Enterprise, it heavily damaged several frame homes and caused extensive tree damage. One spot here was the other area of EF-4 damage produced by this tornado. A new construction frame home was completely leveled with the debris swept off the foundation. Residents in the area reported that the house was nearly completed. Based on these reports and the extent of other nearby, primarily tree, damage, this damage is being rated EF-4 with maximum winds of 175 mph. Other damage in this general area was rated as high end EF-2 or low end EF-3. ||The tornado weakened slightly again as it crossed US Highway 45 and State Highway 145, and then caused high end EF-2 and low end EF-3 damage at County Roads 456 and 457. Here, several strapped down double wide mobile homes were destroyed with debris strewn over long distances. Nearby residents reported that one of the mobile homes was occupied by 11 persons at the time of the tornado, and that this was the location where 4 people were killed. Another resident of a nearby mobile home was critically injured. From here, the tornado passed east northeast, just north of the Energy and Snell communities, causing EF-2 damage to a number of frame homes along with extensive tree and powerline damage. The tornado crossed Highway 514 northeast of Snell, still causing extensive tree damage and significant roof damage to several large frame homes, before moving across the state line into Choctaw County, Alabama. The tornado continued into Alabama for 59 miles, bringing the total path length to 124 miles.

The tornado was already on the ground as it moved out of extreme northeastern Clarke County Mississippi into northern Choctaw County Alabama approximately 4 miles to the southwest of the community of Yantley. The tornado then remained on the ground as it moved east across the entire width of extreme northern Choctaw county, before exiting the county by crossing the Tombigbee river north of the|community of Oakchia. The tornado nearly paralleled County Road 32 as it moved east across the county, producing EF-3 damage. Considerable tree damage was noted along the entire path, with many trees snapped off above ground level in a 500 yard wide path. Extensive damage to homes and other structures was also noted. A few homes had their roof taken off and exterior walls collapsed. Several manufactured homes along the path of the tornado were also completely destroyed. Property damage to homes is estimated to be near 2 million dollars, with widespread damage to timber resulting in losses near 6.6 million dollars.

The deaths

7 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

64 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:38 UTC, 64 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:05 UTC and running to 23:42 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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:12 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), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:40 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.