EF2 tornado, Wesson to Pinola, Mississippi, February 15, 2016

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

February 15, 2016

Touchdown

12:10 PM CST (18:10 UTC)

Lifted

12:57 PM CST (18:57 UTC)

On the ground

47 minutes

Path length

30.3 miles (48.8 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$960,000

Counties

Copiah and Simpson counties

Touchdown point

31.696, -90.402

Lift-off point

31.884, -89.936

Record number

1602151210-01

35 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Trees down on power lines.
• Roof damage to Wesson High School and trees down.
• Trees done, one fell on a roof.
• Trees down and minor home roof damage.

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

Widespread severe weather occurred with a mix of damaging winds, hail and several tornadoes. The focus of the severe weather was across central and southern Mississippi. This event was driven by a potent disturbance that swung across the area during the midday and afternoon hours. As this strong feature dropped into the Lower Mississippi River Valley, a surface low rapidly deepened as it tracked across central Mississippi. The atmospheric response to this was for a rapid increase in winds aloft and higher low level moisture. This combination set the stage for an unstable environment that contained high levels of wind shear which supported and sustained tornado development.

The tornado began along Highway 51 just southwest of Wesson. As it tracked northeast, it snapped many hardwood trees. It also caused roof damage to Wesson Attendance Center as well as downing trees that fell on employee cars. As the tornado continued across the southern end of Beauregard, it continued to down trees with one falling on a house. Another house had minor roof damage. As the tornado passed south-southeast of Sand Hill, it became more intense with numerous trees snapped along Beauregard Road. The worst damage occurred on Sand Hill Road, where a home was obliterated. This is where the tornado reached its most intense point and winds reached 130 mph. Another home suffered significant roof damage, a shop was destroyed and many trees were blown down. The tornado tracked northeast, downing numerous trees and causing roof damage to a mobile home on Beauregard Road. The tornado then weakened slightly as it tracked into Simpson County and caused roof damage to two homes on Rockport Road. EF1 type damage was found in the Rockport area, which included snapped trees and some minor roof damage along Highway 27, Camp Lane, and Lower Rockport Road. Minor tree damage occurred as the tornado tracked south of Bridgeport. It reintensified near Bushtown Shivers Road and snapped and uprooted softwood trees as it tracked across Highway 28 south of Pinola. The tornado finally lifted near Tom Coke Road on the eastern side of Pinola. The total path length for this tornado was 30.8 miles. The maximum estimated wind speed was 130mph.

The tornado began along Highway 51 just southwest of Wesson. As it tracked northeast, it snapped many hardwood trees and also caused roof damage to Wesson Attendance Center. The tornado also downing trees that fell onto employee cars. As the tornado continued across the southern end of Beauregard, it continued to down trees with one falling on a house. As the tornado passed south-southeast of Sand Hill, it became more intense with numerous trees snapped along Beauregard Road. The worst damage occurred on Sand Hill Road, where a home was destroyed. This is where the tornado reached its most intense point with winds reaching 130 mph. Another home suffered significant roof damage, a shop was destroyed and many trees were blown down. The tornado tracked northeast, downing numerous trees and causing roof damage to a mobile home on Beauregard Road. The tornado then weakened slightly as it tracked into Simpson County and caused roof damage to two homes on Rockport Road. EF1 type damage was found in the Rockport area, which included snapped trees and some minor roof damage along Highway 27, Camp Lane, and Lower Rockport Road. Minor tree damage occurred as the tornado tracked south of Bridgeport. It re-intensified near Bushtown Shivers Road and snapped and uprooted softwood trees as it tracked across Highway 28 south of Pinola. The tornado finally lifted near Tom Coke Road on the eastern side of Pinola. The total path length for this tornado was 30.8 miles. The maximum estimated winds were 130mph, which occurred in Copiah County. The maximum estimated winds in Simpson County were 95mph. The maximum path width for this entire tornado was 250 yards.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:58 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:46 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:30 UTC and running to 20:33 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:28 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), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:10 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.

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 2016 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.