EF3 tornado, Slate to Bigbee, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

2:48 PM CDT (19:48 UTC)

Lifted

3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)

On the ground

50 minutes

Path length

51.5 miles (82.8 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

4

Injuries

25

Property damage

$3.3 million

Counties

Webster, Calhoun, Chickasaw and Monroe counties

Touchdown point

33.711, -89.316

Lift-off point

34.022, -88.504

Record number

1104271348-01

A stationary front remained draped across Southern Missouri into Western Kentucky from April 24th, 2011 into April 25th, 2011. A very warm and unstable atmosphere was in place across the Mid-South ahead of the front. A low pressure system developed along the front and interacted with the unstable environment which helped produce several rounds of severe storms into the evening of April 26th, 2011. As a result of the severe storms, the front sank south during the early morning hours of April 27th, 2011 as a secondary low pressure system developed along the front. As a result, another round of severe storms fired during the afternoon hours ahead of the low pressure center. Additional severe storms fired along the trailing cold front. Tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding occurred as a result of the severe storms.

A strong tornado moved northeast out of Webster County into extreme Southeastern Calhoun County. At least one home sustained major damage and one barn was destroyed. Numerous trees were knocked down. The tornado continued to move northeast and crossed into Chickasaw County.

A strong tornado crossed into Chickasaw County from Calhoun County and continued to move northeast. The Anchor community was the hardest hit area where one death occurred. An additional two deaths occurred east of Houston. In total, seventy-four homes were destroyed with an additional ninety-two sustaining major damage. A total of twenty-five mobile homes were destroyed with and an additional fifteen sustaining major damage. Numerous other homes and mobile homes sustained minor damage. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down in the area. A total of twenty-five injuries occurred from the tornado. The tornado continued northeast and crossed into Monroe County.

A strong tornado moved into Monroe County from Chickasaw County and continued northeast. The New Wren community was especially hit hard. At least 20 homes were destroyed or sustained major damage. Hundreds of trees were snapped or debarked. Numerous power lines were knocked down. One motorist was killed as the tornado moved through the area.

The deaths

4 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.

44 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:04 UTC, 44 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:05 UTC and running to 00:00 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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.

Tupelo (TUP), 46 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:47 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.