Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2011

EF1 tornado, Vardaman, Mississippi, June 22, 2011

This EF1 tornado ran 1.1 miles across Calhoun County on June 22, 2011, touching down at 12:50 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $35,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 22, 2011
Touchdown
12:50 PM CDT (17:50 UTC)
Lifted
12:53 PM CDT (17:53 UTC)
On the ground
3 minutes
Path length
1.1 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$35,000
County
Calhoun County
Touchdown point
33.877, -89.186
Lift-off point
33.882, -89.167
Record number
1106221150-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front slowly pushed into the Mid-South during the period of June 21st-June 22nd, 2011. Showers and thunderstorms developed out ahead of the front. Some storms became severe producing damaging winds and one tornado.

A tornado briefly touched down in the town of Vardaman knocking down large trees. One tree fell on a house injuring an occupant and destroying the roof of the home. Other trees were snapped. Additional homes were damaged by fallen trees. Major damage occurred to several tractor sheds. One shed was blown into a tree line approximately 100 yards away.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 forecast that day

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 16:19 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 air that afternoon

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.

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 12:00Z

5.8 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. June 22, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2011-06-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1419 joules per kilogram, CIN -62, lifted condensation level 557 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2011-06-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 107 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1419 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-62 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1863 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
557 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KLZK), 00:00Z

6.2 hours after it, 127 km from the path. June 23, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2011-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 695 joules per kilogram, CIN -33, lifted condensation level 1381 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2011-06-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 76 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
695 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1579 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1381 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tupelo (TUP), 57 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:53 UTC8273240° 11 kt171013.9
16:53 UTC8373250° 5 kt1013.5
17:29 UTC84.273.4240° 8 kt1012.9
17:37 UTC84.273.4250° 8 kt1012.9
17:53 UTC8573260° 10 kt141012.5
18:07 UTC84.271.6270° 9 kt1012.5
18:29 UTC82.473.4220° 9 kt1012.9TS
18:35 UTC7771.6270° 25 kt381014.9-TSRA
18:43 UTC71.669.8290° 12 kt351014.6+TSRA FG
18:50 UTC71.668290° 7 kt181014.2+TSRA FG
18:56 UTC71.6680° 6 kt141014.2TSRA BR
19:04 UTC71.669.8260° 4 kt1013.9-TSRA BR
19:16 UTC71.669.8 1013.2+TSRA BR
19:35 UTC71.669.8 1012.5-TSRA BR

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

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:47 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
17:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 S Calhoun CityCalhoun, MSLARGE TREE DOWN ACROSS HWY 9.
17:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nw BruceCalhoun, MSLARGE TREE ON HWY 32 IN ELLERD COMMUNITY NORTHWEST OF BRUCE.
17:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGVardamanCalhoun, MSROOF OFF OF HOUSE IN VARDAMAN. TREE ON HOUSE..ONE INJURY.
18:13 UTCTSTM WND GST 60PylandChickasaw, MS
18:36 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 N VeronaLee, MSTRACTOR TRAILER BLOWN OVER.
18:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGTupeloLee, MS6 POWER POLES WERE SNAPPED ON ELIZABETH STREET IN TUPELO.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 22, 2011

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:37 PM EDTEF0Leelanau, MI0.375$20,000
June 226:40 PM EDTEF0Roane, TN0.620$5,000
June 227:27 PM EDTEF0Harrison, IN0.375$5,000
June 228:04 PM EDTEF2Jefferson, KY1.2120$400,000
June 229:29 PM EDTEF1Jefferson, KY1.9150$150,000
June 229:34 PM EDTEF2Jefferson, KY1.6100$175,000
June 229:38 PM EDTEF1Jefferson, KY3.560$75,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.