EF1 tornado, Shuqualak to Mc Leod, 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 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 2, 2016

Touchdown

5:27 PM CST (23:27 UTC)

Lifted

5:36 PM CST (23:36 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

6.6 miles (10.6 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$170,000

County

Noxubee County

Touchdown point

32.980, -88.570

Lift-off point

33.059, -88.507

Record number

1602021727-01

34 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 115 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.

This tornado started in town and was on the weak side as a few trees were uprooted and some limbs broken. More trees were snapped as it crossed the rail road tracks and it peaked in intensity as it crossed Highway 145. Here along Highway 145, numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. A brick gas station had a large portion of the roof lifted off. The old elementary school building was damaged as roughly a 60 foot section of roof was taken off. Many windows were blown out as well. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Highway 45, snapping more trees. More trees were downed at the end of Card Cemetery Road. Some minor tree damage was noted at Elon Road where the tornado dissipated. Peak winds were 110 mph.

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

34 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:53 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:23 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), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:28 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.