Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2012

EF0 tornado, D Iberville to Wool Market, Mississippi, March 22, 2012

From D Iberville to Wool Market, this EF0 tornado ran 4.1 miles across Harrison County on March 22, 2012, touching down at 5:10 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
March 22, 2012
Touchdown
5:10 AM CDT (10:10 UTC)
Lifted
5:15 AM CDT (10:15 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
4.1 miles (6.6 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Harrison County
Touchdown point
30.470, -88.909
Lift-off point
30.528, -88.923
Record number
1203220410-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A slow moving cold front provided a focus for several waves of thunderstorms and heavy rain over a 3 day period. Several reports of tornadoes and flash flooding were received during the period.

NWS storm survey confirmed a tornado touched down along Highway 67 at Highway 15. Most of the damage was at the starting point with a large shed door blown in, causing roof damage and a patio roof lifted off. Most of the remainder of the damage was to shingles and fences, with an end point in Coventry Estates. The path width was 100 yards with a damage track around 4 miles long. Estimated wind speed was 85 mph.

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

The warnings

18 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:52 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:49 UTC19:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryLIX
20:18 UTC14:03 UTCFlash Flood WatchLIX
20:50 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIX
20:52 UTC22:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryLIX
23:05 UTC08:00 UTCTornado WatchLIX
00:09 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningLIX
01:19 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningLIX
01:58 UTC05:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningLIX
03:08 UTC03:34 UTCTornado WarningLIX
04:54 UTC07:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningLIX
05:18 UTC05:45 UTCTornado WarningLIX
07:00 UTC10:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningLIX
09:52 UTC10:15 UTCTornado WarningLIX
12:15 UTC17:00 UTCTornado WatchLIX
15:05 UTC00:42 UTCFlood WarningLIX
19:03 UTC12:47 UTCFlood WarningLIX
00:00 UTC23:05 UTCFlood WarningLIX
01:20 UTC11:25 UTCFlood WarningLIX
01:36 UTC02:03 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLIX
01:45 UTC01:57 UTCTornado WarningLIX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:39 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.

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 00:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 80 km from the path. March 22, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-03-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 131 joules per kilogram, CIN -28, lifted condensation level 505 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-03-22The 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 -10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.193958Sfc1 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
131 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-28 J/kg
Surface CAPE
63 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
505 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 12:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 80 km from the path. March 22, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-03-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 438 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-03-22The 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 148 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
438 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
377 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.3
0-3 km lapse rate
3.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:10 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
10:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGBiloxiHarrison, MSDAMAGE REPORTED AT THE HAMPTON INN. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
10:10 UTCTORNADO 05 N BiloxiHarrison, MSNWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMED A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ALONG HWY 67 AT HWY 15. MOST OF THE DAMAGE WAS AT THE STARTING POINT WITH A LARGE SHED DOOR BLOWN IN CAUSING ROOF DAMAGE AND A PATIO ROOF LIFTED OFF. MOST OF THE REMAINDE
10:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 N BiloxiHarrison, MS911 CALLS REPORTING DAMAGE IN THE AREA OF HIGHWAYS 67 AND 15. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
10:30 UTCFLASH FLOOD9 Se JanicePerry, MSWATER REPORTED OVER JOHN BOND ROAD IN SE PERRY COUNTY

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

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.