EF2 tornado, Prismatic to Binnsville, Mississippi, February 2, 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 2, 2016

Touchdown

3:53 PM CST (21:53 UTC)

Lifted

4:23 PM CST (22:23 UTC)

On the ground

30 minutes

Path length

18.5 miles (29.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$270,000

Counties

Kemper and Noxubee counties

Touchdown point

32.730, -88.578

Lift-off point

32.945, -88.386

Record number

1602021553-01

53 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• several trees snapped, few uprooted.
• roughly 60 ft section of roof removed.
• minor tree dmg & tin on mobile home.
• metal shed roof off, wood fram carport, demolished.

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

A spring like weather system took shape on Feb 2 and set the stage for a round of severe storms with tornadoes. A large surface low developed across the Eastern Plains and Midwest with an attendant surface front that extended southward into the ArkLaMiss region. While the core of the best lift was over the Midwest, a combination of sufficient lift along with strong wind shear and instability coexisted across portions of East-Central Mississippi. Several supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon with a few producing tornadoes. One cell in particular was efficient at producing tornadoes and produced 3 before moving into Alabama where it produced a few more. This cell impacted Newton, Lauderdale, Kemper, and Noxubee Counties with tornadoes, 2 of which were strong and rated EF2.

The tornado began southwest of Collinsville near Honeysuckle Drive. It caused damage to numerous homes in this subdivision, mainly to roofs. The tornado then tracked northeast through other subdivisions along Magnolia Road, again causing roof damage that ranged from minor shingle damage to roofs completely destroyed. The tornado also caused extensive damage to a mobile home along Magnolia Drive. As the tornado crossed Highway 494, it caused additional roof damage to a home as well as lifting a mobile home. As the tornado crossed a subdivision along Collinsville Circle, it caused additional roof damage with some extensive. As the tornado tracked near Highway 19, it caused extensive damage to the several buildings of Collinsville Baptist Church. It was here at the church, as well as several of the homes and the mobile home in the subdivisions southwest of Collinsville that saw the most intense damage and where the tornado was strongest. The tornado continued northeast and snapped or uprooted numerous trees. Minor fence and roof damage occurred at West Lauderdale High School. The tornado continued northeast crossing into Kemper County, mainly snapping or uprooting softwood and hardwood trees before it dissipated past Kipling Road. Peak EF2 winds were 125 mph in Lauderdale County. Maximum winds in Kemper County were 110mph. The maximum width was 880 yards as well in Lauderdale County. Total track length was 21.4 miles.

This tornado touched down and crossed Graham Road and downed several trees. The tornado then tracked through a wooded area and crossed Highway 16 on the west side of Scooba. Here more trees were snapped or uprooted along with a few power poles that were pushed over. The tornado impacted the west side of Scooba and the western part of East Mississippi Community College. Here the baseball field fence was torn down along with some of the field buildings damaged. Two mobile buildings were heavily damaged in this area. Numerous trees were damaged along with a couple homes with minor roof damage. The tornado then crossed Highway 45 where more trees were snapped. The tornado reached its peak intensity as it approached and crossed Old Highway 45 Road. Dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted along the path and one well-built barn was totally destroyed. There was also a grove of pine trees that sustained extensive damage where roughly 85% were snapped leaving very little standing. At this location, there was evidence of multiple vortices. The tornado continued to the northeast and crossed Millington Road, heavily damaging trees. At the end of Mosley Road, a home sustained some minor roof damage. Here an exterior wood built carport was totally destroyed along with a sizeable metal shed. The tornado damaged a few other metal sheds here along with damaging more trees as it moved into a wooded area. The tornado continued moving through the wooded area in far northern Kemper County and then tracked into southeast Noxubee County. Tree damage was noted at the end of White Horse Road. The tornado dissipated in the wooded area in the Noxubee river bottom. Peak EF2 winds were around 115 mph. Total path length was 18.5 miles.

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

28 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:25 UTC, 28 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:27 UTC and running to 00:57 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:28 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 Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 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

9 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.