EF1 tornado, Summerland to Stringer, Mississippi, January 2, 2017

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

January 2, 2017

Touchdown

2:43 PM CST (20:43 UTC)

Lifted

2:47 PM CST (20:47 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.9 miles (6.2 km)

Path width

275 yards (251 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$110,000

Counties

Smith and Jasper counties

Touchdown point

31.859, -89.334

Lift-off point

31.867, -89.269

Record number

1701021443-02

18 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 104 mph.

• tree on house. possible straight line winds. isolated
• about 5 large pines uprooted
• split branch and tree just cut. tore up cedar next to it
• tree fallen east toward house and other trees

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

As a warm front was draped across the region, an upper level disturbance moved across and brought heavy rain and some severe storms during the morning. The storm system developed further during the afternoon and a squall line formed ahead of an approaching cold front. This helped to bring tornadoes and additional severe weather to the region during the afternoon hours.

This tornado touched down near County Road 33B in Smith County and continued to the east before crossing County Road 5 and County Road 713(entering Jasper County), where many large trees were snapped and downed and some minor roof damage occurred to some homes along the path. The tornado continued to the east-northeast along County Road 10, snapping and downing more trees. The tornado finally lifted near Highway 15. The total path length was 3.9 miles, with about a mile of that in Smith County. The maximum estimated wind speed for the entire track was 105 mph, which rates the tornado as an EF1. The maximum width for the tornado was 275 yards.

This tornado touched down near County Road 33B in Smith County and continued to the east before crossing County Road 5 and County Road 713(entering Jasper County), where many large trees were snapped and downed and some minor roof damage occurred to some homes along the path. The tornado continued to the east-northeast along County Road 10, snapping and downing more trees. The tornado finally lifted near Highway 15. The total path length was 3.9 miles, with about a mile of that in Smith County. The maximum estimated wind speed for the entire track was 105 mph, which rates the tornado as an EF1. The maximum width for the tornado was 275 yards.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:20 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:50 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:22 UTC and running to 22:06 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. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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 Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:40 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 2017 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

38 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.