EF1 tornado, Sylvarena to Baxter, 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 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.

Rating

EF1

Date

February 15, 2016

Touchdown

1:52 PM CST (19:52 UTC)

Lifted

2:11 PM CST (20:11 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

14.6 miles (23.5 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$608,000

Counties

Smith and Jasper counties

Touchdown point

32.051, -89.341

Lift-off point

32.197, -89.161

Record number

1602151352-01

34 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• tin scattered through field
• roof damaged on a church. also trees uprooted and tree damaged outbuilding
• roof damage due to fallen trees
• old house destroyed by fallen tree

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 near Smith County Road 84, where some softwood trees were uprooted. It then tracked northeast into Sylvarena. Here the tornado damaged several structures along Highway 18, including ripping off a gas station canopy and blowing down an antenna. Homes also had roof damage and were damaged by uprooted trees. The tornado continued northeast and lifted amongst some trees south of Ted-Sylvarena Road. The maximum estimated wind speed was 105mph.

The tornado began just west of Smith County Road 107 where it snapped some trees. It then crossed into Jasper County, continuing to uproot and snap trees. The tornado entered Montrose where numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted. There was also damage to several buildings in Montrose, including roof damage to a church as well as damage to houses due to fallen trees. The tornado was at its widest point in Montrose. The tornado continued northeast, following Highway 15, where it snapped and uprooted trees through the remainder of its path, with a few falling on homes. The tornado lifted just north of the Highway 15 intersection with Jasper County Road 24. The total path length for this tornado was 14.7 miles. The maximum width for this tornado was 350 yards and maximum estimated winds were 110mph, which occurred in Jasper County. The highest winds estimated in Smith County was 90mph.

The tornado began just west of Smith County Road 107 where it snapped some trees. It then crossed into Jasper County, continuing to uproot and snap trees. The tornado entered Montrose where numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted. There was also damage to several buildings in Montrose, including roof damage to a church as well as damage to houses due to fallen trees. The tornado was at its widest point in Montrose. The tornado continued northeast, following Highway 15, where it snapped and uprooted trees through the remainder of its path, with a few falling on homes. The tornado lifted just north of the Highway 15 intersection with Jasper County Road 24. The total path length for this tornado was 14.7 miles. The maximum width for this tornado was 350 yards and maximum estimated winds were 110mph, which occurred in Jasper County.

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

26 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:26 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:05 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:30 UTC and running to 21:18 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.

Laurel (LUL), 51 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:50 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.