Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2016
EF0 tornado, Pokal, Mississippi, February 23, 2016
This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Simpson County on February 23, 2016, touching down at 4:46 PM CST and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $13,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- February 23, 2016
- Touchdown
- 4:46 PM CST (22:46 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:47 PM CST (22:47 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.6 miles (1.0 km)
- Path width
- 40 yards (37 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $13,000
- County
- Simpson County
- Touchdown point
- 31.772, -90.053
- Lift-off point
- 31.777, -90.045
- Record number
- 1602231646-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Showers and thunderstorms occurred across the region in association with a potent low pressure system. Some of these storms produced tornadoes, strong damaging wind gusts, and hail.
This tornado started along Grubbs Hog Farm Road, uprooting trees and snapping large limbs off the tops of some trees. The tornado continued northeast into a wooded area. A few more trees were downed in the woods just northwest of Joseph Crawford Road before lifting near this location soon after. Estimated maximum winds were 80 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 00:50 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18:00 UTC | 10:21 UTC | Wind Advisory | JAN |
| 20:20 UTC | 00:50 UTC | Tornado Watch | JAN |
| 03:45 UTC | 04:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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.
Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z
10.8 hours before the tornado, 61 km from the path. February 23, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -131 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 540 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 104 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 148 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z
1.2 hours after it, 61 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 12 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -24 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 181 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 804 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -38 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -99 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.7 K/km
The radar
The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:46 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:46 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 Nw New Hebron | Simpson, MS | BRIEF EF-0 RATED TORNADO WITH MAX WINDS OF 80 MPH IN SOUTHWEST SIMPSON COUNTY...SNAPPED AND UPROOTED SOFTWOOD TREES |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 23, 2016
38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 23 | 5:53 AM CST | EF0 | Wharton, TX | 2.0 | 30 | |||
| February 23 | 11:11 AM CST | EF0 | Jefferson Parish, LA | 0.6 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 11:20 AM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 3.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 12:08 PM CST | EF0 | Ascension Parish, LA | 1.6 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 12:42 PM CST | EF2 | Livingston Parish, LA | 4.3 | 625 | |||
| February 23 | 1:14 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Helena Parish, LA | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 2:37 PM CST | EF1 | St. Mary Parish, LA | 2.6 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:10 PM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 1.0 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 3:21 PM CST | EF3 | Assumption Parish, LA | 7.8 | 350 | |||
| February 23 | 3:31 PM CST | EF2 | Saint James Parish, LA | 12.9 | 350 | 2 | 75 | |
| February 23 | 3:45 PM CST | EF1 | Lincoln, MS | 0.5 | 75 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:49 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 9.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 3:50 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 5.2 | 200 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:07 PM CST | EF0 | Lamar, MS | 0.1 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF1 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 3.1 | 250 | |||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF2 | Lamar, MS | 5.6 | 100 | 1 | $105,000 | |
| February 23 | 4:22 PM CST | EF0 | Pickens, AL | 4.8 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 4:29 PM CST | EF1 | Lamar, MS | 1.4 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:32 PM CST | EF2 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 4.7 | 250 | 17 | ||
| February 23 | 4:41 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| February 23 | 4:42 PM CST | EF0 | Yazoo, MS | 1.1 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:13 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| February 23 | 5:25 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.5 | 75 | $100,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:32 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 0.0 | 75 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:45 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.6 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| February 23 | 6:01 PM CST | EF1 | Marion, AL | 2.2 | 300 | |||
| February 23 | 6:01 PM CST | EF0 | Forrest, MS | 3.9 | 75 | $15,000 | ||
| February 23 | 8:10 PM CST | EF3 | Escambia, FL | 3.0 | 300 | 3 | $22 million | |
| February 23 | 8:17 PM CST | EF1 | Santa Rosa, FL | 2.7 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:15 PM CST | EF0 | Houston, AL | 2.8 | 200 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:24 PM CST | EF1 | Dale, AL | 4.8 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 10:31 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 1.6 | 350 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:34 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 3.7 | 900 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:38 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 1.1 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:54 PM CST | EF0 | Henry, AL | 0.4 | 100 | |||
| February 23 | 11:02 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 0.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 12:07 AM EST | EF1 | Early, GA | 2.2 | 350 | |||
| February 23 | 12:55 AM EST | EF1 | Terrell, GA | 5.1 | 200 |
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.