EF2 tornado, D Lo to Rufus, Mississippi, April 18, 2019

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 18, 2019

Touchdown

3:01 PM CDT (20:01 UTC)

Lifted

3:11 PM CDT (20:11 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

9.4 miles (15.1 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$105,000

Crop damage

$720,000

Counties

Simpson and Rankin counties

Touchdown point

32.036, -89.833

Lift-off point

32.169, -89.805

Record number

1904181401-01

293 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 113 mph.

• large old barn lost most of roof
• Large limbs and a couple trees down. End of path.
• Numerous trees, home damaged
• Trees down and starting point.

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

During the daytime hours of April 18th, a developing storm system helped generate a large line of thunderstorms which then moved across the region. From this, a regional outbreak of tornadoes along with widespread wind damage occurred. This line became efficient at producing tornadoes as a meso-scale vortex developed. The combination of multiple environmental features, set the stage for 43 tornadoes to occur over the forecast area. This ranks as 4th most for a single event across the forecast area. In addition to the tornadoes, widespread wind damage occurred as well.

An EF-1 tornado formed near Gum Springs road and Old Pinola-Braxton road just northwest of D'Lo. The tornado moved northeast across Highway 49 north of D'Lo, St Johns Road and Charlie Dixon road uprooting and snapping numerous trees along the path. The tornado continued northeast crossing Conerly Road before uprooting a few trees and dissipating just east in a wood area just east of Wade Patrick Road. This tornado continued into Rankin County. Maximum estimated winds 104 MPH. Total path length 7.54 miles.

A long track high end EF-1 tornado developed near Georgetown and tracked northeast across Simpson and Rankin counties for nearly 29 miles. The storm intensified several times along the path. Near Harrisville one mobile home was destroyed with a partial interior wall and the floor left. The rear exterior wall was ripped off a second mobile home. Near New Zion Church numerous snapped and uprooted hardwood trees fell on a nearby home, crushing a suv. In Braxton along Neely Road numerous hardwood trees fell, one falling on a house. In the Cato community, numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. A large metal building was completely destroyed. A couple barns/sheds loss portions of the roof. The tornado moved through the Johns community knocking down trees. A couple power poles were uprooted and power lines were downed also. The tornado dissipated just west of Highway 43 near Indian Mound Trail. Maximum estimated winds 107 MPH. Total path length 28.86 miles.

An EF-1 tornado formed near Gum Springs road and Old Pinola-Braxton road just northwest of D'Lo. The tornado moved northeast across Highway 49 north of D'Lo, St Johns Road and Charlie Dixon road uprooting and snapping numerous trees along the path. The tornado continued northeast crossing Conerly Road before uprooting a few trees and dissipating just east in a wood area just east of Wade Patrick Road. Maximum estimated winds 104 MPH. Total path length 7.54 miles.

This tornado developed along Brandon Williamsburg Road near the Simpson-Rankin line and moved mostly northward to just north of Puckett and up Highway 43. At the early stages, this tornado was fairly wide but was only breaking large limbs and downing some trees. Some EF1 tree damage was noted along County Line Road, then weakening occurred again as it moved North-Northeast and approached Highway 18. Intensity picked up again along Highway 18 as a few corridors of trees were downed and some power lines and poles. Here seems to be the beginning of multiple vortices. As the tornado moved past Highway 18, most of the path was west of Highway 43. Rapid intensification occurred as it neared John Mayton Road. Here, it grew quite wide with two primary intense corridors for a period as it peaked in intensity, EF2. The evidence was extensive tree damage with massive swaths of trees snapped and uprooted. A couple homes were in the vicinity of these and suffered some damage, mostly from trees. The tornado began to turn more North and North-northwest from here as its movement was being influenced by an approaching larger meso-vortex. Just north of John Mayton Road, more evidence of multiple vortices was noted with a zone of higher damage on the east side of the highway and another 500 yds west. Another extensive tree damage corridor occurred near this area with EF2 type tree snapping. From this point, the tornado began to weaken some as its circulation was becoming more affected by the approaching meso-vortex and incipient tornado. In the vicinity of Thornton Road, this tornado became absorbed into the meso-vortex within the eastward advancing line and the tornado dissipated while the other tornado maintained, then headed eastward. Maximum estimated winds 113 MPH. Total path length 9.86 miles.

This tornado was a part of a meso-vortex which ultimately absorbed the Highway 43 tornado in the vicinity of Thornton Road. From that point, the tornado grew and began to accelerate eastward. Numerous trees and power lines were down in this area along with several chicken houses heavily damaged. The tornado move just south of Diamond D Lake Road where a barn and some chicken houses were damaged along Clubhouse Road. Additional solid tree damage was noted here as well. The tornado then crossed Diamond D Lake Road by the creek and moved east across Woodrow Martin Road. It then dissipated near the county line along Quail HI Road. Maximum estimated winds 105 MPH.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:40 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:35 UTC and running to 21:39 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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:22 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), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:03 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 2019 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

43 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.