Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2017
EF1 tornado, Tatums Camps, Mississippi, August 30, 2017
This EF1 tornado ran 1.7 miles across Lamar County on August 30, 2017, touching down at 10:04 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $150,000 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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- August 30, 2017
- Touchdown
- 10:04 AM CDT (15:04 UTC)
- Lifted
- 10:07 AM CDT (15:07 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 1.7 miles (2.8 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $150,000
- County
- Lamar County
- Touchdown point
- 31.161, -89.537
- Lift-off point
- 31.185, -89.539
- Record number
- 1708300904-01
The damage survey
3 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 98 mph.
- Some Pine trees uprooted/snapped.
- End Point, few trees damaged.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
The remnants of Hurricane Harvey moved across the ArkLaMiss region on August 30th and 31st and brought gusty winds and rain to the region. A few tornadoes also occurred on the 30th. As Harvey decreased to a depression on the 31st, gusty winds still remained across portions of the region. This resulted in some downed trees outside of any shower activity.
This tornado touched down in a wooded area just north of Purvis to Columbia Road, near the intersection of B Young Road. The tornado tracked through an area with fairly young, long leaf pines (10-20ft tall) and managed to uproot/snap several near the trail where the property was accessed. As the tornado crossed the transmission line clearing, several more trees were damaged along with a V based truss tower taken down. Information from the power crew engineers noted that these sort of V truss towers are rated for 100 mph winds. The collapse of this tower, with 100 mph winds, was supported by similar tree damage in and around that location. A TDS from both KLIX/KDGX was noted with a well defined signature. Of note, the presence of the clear TDS seemed to be aided by the tornado traveling through the long leaf pine forest and those ���extra long��� needles offering a larger variety of oddly shaped targets for the CC product to indicate. The maximum estimated wind speeds was 105 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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14:50 UTC | 15:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN |
| 15:05 UTC | 15:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAN |
| 15:23 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | JAN |
| 15:38 UTC | 16:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAN |
| 15:43 UTC | 16:31 UTC | Tornado 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:46 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.
Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 12:00Z
3.1 hours before the tornado, 104 km from the path. August 30, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1853 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -7 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2134 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 550 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 270 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 310 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 2.2
- Supercell composite
- 13.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.0 K/km
Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 00:00Z
8.9 hours after it, 104 km from the path. August 31, 2017.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 251 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -15 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1402 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1133 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 217 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 3.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.2 K/km
The surface observations
Hattiesburg Municipal (HBG), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:05 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:10 UTC | 120° 11 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:15 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:20 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:25 UTC | 110° 11 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:30 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:35 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:40 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:45 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:50 UTC | 120° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 13:53 UTC | 76 | 76 | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||
| 13:55 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 14:00 UTC | 100° 8 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 14:05 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 14:10 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 14:15 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 14:20 UTC | 100° 9 kt | 1010.2 | ||||
| 14:25 UTC | 90° 9 kt | 1010.2 | ||||
| 14:30 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.2 | ||||
| 14:35 UTC | 100° 10 kt | 1010.2 | -RA | |||
| 14:40 UTC | 110° 8 kt | 1010.5 | -RA | |||
| 14:45 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | RA BR | |||
| 14:50 UTC | 100° 7 kt | 1010.5 | -RA BR | |||
| 14:53 UTC | 77 | 77 | 110° 8 kt | 1010.5 | -RA | |
| 14:55 UTC | 100° 7 kt | 1010.2 | -RA | |||
| 15:00 UTC | 100° 10 kt | 1010.2 | ||||
| 15:04 UTC | 78 | 77 | 110° 11 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 15:05 UTC | 100° 11 kt | 1010.2 | ||||
| 15:10 UTC | 100° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 15:15 UTC | 100° 12 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 15:18 UTC | 79 | 77 | 90° 12 kt | 1010.5 | VCTS | |
| 15:20 UTC | 100° 10 kt | 15 | 1010.5 | |||
| 15:25 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | ||||
| 15:30 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.8 | ||||
| 15:35 UTC | 110° 13 kt | 1010.8 | -RA | |||
| 15:40 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | -RA | |||
| 15:45 UTC | 110° 10 kt | 1010.5 | -RA | |||
| 15:49 UTC | 77 | 75.2 | 110° 10 kt | 1010.8 | -TSRA | |
| 15:50 UTC | 110° 8 kt | 1010.8 | -RA | |||
| 15:53 UTC | 77 | 76 | 100° 9 kt | 1010.8 | -TSRA BR | |
| 15:55 UTC | 110° 8 kt | 1010.8 | -RA BR | |||
| 16:00 UTC | 90° 10 kt | 1010.5 | -RA BR | |||
| 16:04 UTC | 77 | 77 | 100° 8 kt | 1010.2 | VCTS RA BR | |
| 16:05 UTC | 100° 9 kt | 1010.2 | RA BR | |||
| 16:09 UTC | 77 | 77 | 110° 8 kt | 1010.2 | VCTS +RA BR | |
| 16:10 UTC | 110° 9 kt | 1010.5 | +RA BR | |||
| 16:15 UTC | 100° 7 kt | 1010.5 | -RA BR | |||
| 16:16 UTC | 77 | 77 | 90° 7 kt | 1010.5 | VCTS -RA BR | |
| 16:20 UTC | 80° 9 kt | 1010.2 | -RA | |||
| 16:21 UTC | 77 | 77 | 80° 9 kt | 1009.8 | -RA | |
| 16:25 UTC | 70° 9 kt | 1009.5 | -RA | |||
| 16:30 UTC | 120° 9 kt | 1009.8 | ||||
| 16:35 UTC | 1010.5 | +RA BR | ||||
| 16:38 UTC | 77 | 77 | 4 kt | 15 | 1010.2 | +RA BR |
| 16:40 UTC | 200° 3 kt | 1010.2 | +RA BR | |||
| 16:42 UTC | 77 | 77 | 0° 0 kt | 1010.2 | +RA BR | |
| 16:45 UTC | 0° 0 kt | 1010.2 | +RA FG | |||
| 16:50 UTC | 1009.8 | +RA FG | ||||
| 16:53 UTC | 77 | 77 | 280° 7 kt | 1010.2 | +RA FG | |
| 16:55 UTC | 180° 7 kt | 1010.2 | +RA BR | |||
| 17:00 UTC | 79 | 78 | 150° 8 kt | 1010.2 | -RA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 8 W Purvis | Lamar, MS | A FEW TREES DOWN NEAR BEACH AND RL ANDERSON ROADS, POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 15:04 UTC | TORNADO | 8 W Purvis | Lamar, MS | THIS TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN A WOODED AREA JUST NORTH OF PURVIS TO COLUMBIA ROAD, NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF B YOUNG ROAD. THIS AREA WAS INACCESSIBLE DUE TO POWER CREWS WORKING TO REPAIR A DOWNED TRANSMISSION LINE. BASED O |
| 15:07 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 13 Se Poplarville | Pearl River, MS | MOSTLY EF-0 DAMAGE,BUT A LARGE FARMSTEAD HAD TWO BARNS HEAVILY DAMAGED WITH EF-1 TYPE DAMAGE WITH WINDS ESTIMATED AT 100 MPH. LARGE HARDWOOD WERE SPLIT. LARGE ENCASED WALNUTS THROWN AS PROJECTILES THROUGH AIRBORNE SHINGL |
| 15:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 9 Se Poplarville | Pearl River, MS | DOWN TREES AND ROOF DAMAGE TO OUT BUILDINGS IN THE VICINITY OF SILVER RUN RD AND GO GO RD... POSSIBLE TORNADO |
| 15:43 UTC | HEAVY RAIN 2 | 6 Nnw Purvis | Lamar, MS | HIGHWAY 589 WAS COVERED WITH 1-2 INCHES OF WATER AND IT WAS STILL RISING. |
| 16:23 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 9 Nw Lumberton | Lamar, MS | SOFTWOOD TREES UPROOTED, STORM SURVEY ESTIMATED WINDS OF 73MPH. |
| 16:40 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wnw Petal | Forrest, MS | TORNADO REPORTED IN DOWNTOWN PETAL. TWO BUSINESSES ON MAIN STREET WITH MAJOR ROOF DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 11 AT EVELYN GANDY PARKWAY. |
| 16:40 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wnw Petal | Forrest, MS | THIS TORNADO WAS RATED EF1 TORNADO WITH ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED 90 MPH. TWO BUSINESSES ON MAIN STREET WITH MAJOR ROOF DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 11. |
| 16:41 UTC | TORNADO | 1 W Petal | Forrest, MS | THIS TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN PETAL ALONG WEST CENTRAL AVE. HERE, TWO BUSINESSES SUSTAINED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE WITH A PORTION OF THE ROOF PEELED OFF. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED AND A FENCE WAS BLOWN DOWN. AS THE TORNADO MO |
| 16:42 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nw Petal | Forrest, MS | TREE ON A HOUSE. |
| 17:32 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 N Bassfield | Jefferson Davis, MS | TREE DOWN ON A VEHICLE ON WILLIAMS LN. |
| 17:35 UTC | TORNADO | 5 N Bassfield | Jefferson Davis, MS | THIS BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AT WILLIAMS LN, JUST OFF HIGHWAY 35, AND TRACKED NORTH FOR ABOUT 1 MILE. AT WILLIAMS LN, A LARGE TREE WAS BLOWN DOWN ONTO A TRUCK, THE TREE WAS LAID TO THE WEST. OTHER LARGE LIMBS AND TREE |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 30, 2017
6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 30 | 1:46 AM CDT | EF0 | Harrison, MS | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| August 30 | 2:16 AM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, MS | 1.0 | 100 | |||
| August 30 | 10:12 AM CDT | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 4.6 | 100 | |||
| August 30 | 11:31 AM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, MS | 2.3 | 100 | |||
| August 30 | 11:41 AM CDT | EF1 | Forrest, MS | 1.3 | 160 | $200,000 | ||
| August 30 | 12:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson Davis, MS | 1.1 | 50 | $15,000 |
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.