Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2017

EF1 tornado, Kirkville, Mississippi, August 31, 2017

This EF1 tornado ran 2.5 miles across Itawamba County on August 31, 2017, touching down at 1:23 PM CDT and reaching 150 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
August 31, 2017
Touchdown
1:23 PM CDT (18:23 UTC)
Lifted
1:27 PM CDT (18:27 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
2.5 miles (4.0 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$150,000
County
Itawamba County
Touchdown point
34.429, -88.513
Lift-off point
34.462, -88.532
Record number
1708311223-01

What the Weather Service recorded

The remnants of Harvey tracked across the Mid-South with heavy rain and gusty winds. There were several reports of flash flooding and a few tornadoes.

This tornado developed in a wooded area south of Houston-Palestine Road. As the tornado crossed Houston-Palestine Road, it damaged trees and two mobile homes. The tornado damaged trees along Natchez Trace Parkway and homes along Palestine Road. The most significant damage occurred along Highway 370 where a double-wide mobile home was carried 100 feet and a small commercial building suffered roof damage. The tornado dissipated north of Highway 370. Peak winds were estimated at 105 to 110 mph.

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

The warnings

16 minutes of warning. NWS MEG issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:07 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:15 UTC and running to 00:54 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:15 UTC00:54 UTCTornado WatchMEG
18:00 UTC19:42 UTCWind AdvisoryMEG
18:07 UTC18:45 UTCTornado WarningMEG

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 16:30 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.

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 12:00Z

6.4 hours before the tornado, 137 km from the path. August 31, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2017-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 20 joules per kilogram, CIN -77, lifted condensation level 525 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 12:00Z on 2017-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 2 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-77 J/kg
Surface CAPE
13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
525 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Little Rock, AR (KBYH), 00:00Z

5.6 hours after it, 137 km from the path. September 1, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2017-09-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 150 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 824 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Little Rock, AR at 00:00Z on 2017-09-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
150 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
519 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
72 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:21 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
18:15 UTCTORNADO1 N TupeloLee, MS
18:23 UTCTORNADO4 Ese Pratts FriendshipItawamba, MSEF1 TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR 2.5 MILES IN NORTHWEST ITAWAMBA COUNTY. THIS TORNADO DAMAGED NUMEROUS TREES AND SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES.
18:39 UTCTORNADO2 W MariettaPrentiss, MSDEBRIS REPORTED AND TREES DAMAGED AT HIGHWAY 366 AND C.R. 5334
18:43 UTCTORNADO4 S BoonevillePrentiss, MSA BRIEF EF0 TORNADO OCCURRED NEAR COUNTY ROADS 5131 AND 5031. MINOR DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED TO SEVERAL STRUCTURES.
18:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGBoonevillePrentiss, MSTREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ON MEADOW CREEK ROAD.
18:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGBoonevillePrentiss, MSTREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ON OLD MEADOW CREEK ROAD. METAL ROOFING TORN OFF BUILDING.
20:09 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 E RipleyTippah, MSA COUPLE OF TREES DOWN ON STATE HIGHWAY 2 EAST OF RIPLEY.
20:50 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD7 N New AlbanyUnion, MSFUNNEL CLOUD WITH SOME LEAF DEBRIS BELOW.

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 31, 2017

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 318:19 AM CDTEF0Phillips, AR1.750$15,000
August 3111:57 AM CDTEF0Benton, MS0.330$25,000
August 311:13 PM CDTEF0Lee, MS1.140
August 311:43 PM CDTEF0Prentiss, MS0.330$50,000
August 313:07 PM CDTEF0Hardin, TN1.350$10,000
August 313:40 PM CDTEF2Pickens, AL31.26006
August 314:19 PM CDTEF0Perry, TN0.350$10,000
August 314:37 PM CDTEF0Hardin, TN0.870$10,000
August 315:11 PM CDTEF0Maury, TN3.475$10,000
August 316:57 PM CDTEF1Bibb, AL6.5100
August 317:28 PM CDTEF1Bibb, AL0.6200
August 317:42 PM CDTEF0Bibb, AL0.335
August 318:58 PM CDTEF2Cullman, AL13.6300
August 3111:21 PM CDTEF1Davidson, TN0.675$25,000
August 3111:47 PM CDTEF0Davidson, TN0.950$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.