EF1 tornado, Mt Olive to Ora, Mississippi, April 6, 2018

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

April 6, 2018

Touchdown

11:33 PM CDT (04:33 UTC)

Lifted

11:37 PM CDT (04:37 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.7 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Covington County

Touchdown point

31.707, -89.582

Lift-off point

31.699, -89.554

Record number

1804062233-01

30 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 105 mph.

• large tree uprooted. 2 trees snapped
• few large oak trees either snapped or uprooted.
• large section of ak tree snapped
• tractor trailer rolled over.

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

A warm front was stretched across the region on April 6th. As a disturbance rode along this stalled front, it brought copious amounts of rain to the region thanks to ample moisture in place. As daytime heating occurred, some storms developed which brought severe weather to the region.

This tornado touched down near the Jefferson Davis-Covington County line along Lucas Hollow Road. It continued southeast, crossing the county line. Some large limbs and trees were snapped and uprooted at this location. It then crossed Lucas Hollow Road again before crossing Leonard Road. A tornado debris signature was indicated on radar in these locations. The tornado uprooted and snapped many trees in this region. It also overturned a small tractor trailer on Oakvale Road and caused some minor shingle damage to a home. After crossing Oakvale Road twice, the tornado lifted before crossing Highway 35. The maximum winds in this tornado was 105mph and total path length was 2.91 miles. The maximum path width was 440 yards.

This tornado touched down southeast of Mount Olive just to the west of Linda Sanford Lane, near the intersection of William Warren Road. Some trees were snapped and uprooted along and just west of William Warren Road. It then continued east-southeast before crossing Salem Church Road. Some large limbs were snapped in this area. It then crossed Rocky Valley Road, where some limbs were snapped and a few pine trees were uprooted. Also some minor shingle damage occurred to a home. The tornado became weaker and lifted soon after crossing the road. The maximum estimated winds with this tornado were 90mph.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:13 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 03:56 UTC and running to 07:13 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:35 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 2018 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.