EF1 tornado, Polkville, 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 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 18, 2019

Touchdown

3:19 PM CDT (20:19 UTC)

Lifted

3:24 PM CDT (20:24 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

950 yards (869 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Smith County

Touchdown point

32.187, -89.721

Lift-off point

32.213, -89.671

Record number

1904181419-01

237 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 132 mph.

• several homes with minor roof damage
• numerous snapped and uprooted trees, lines down
• large old barn lost most of roof
• Large limbs and a couple trees down. End of path.

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.

This tornado developed in the creek bottom just south of Lofton Road and tracked northeast through the north side of Polkville and downed hundreds of trees and many power lines. Quickly the tornado became wide and snapped or uprooted many trees. Lofton Road was blocked by trees and as it continued northeast, CR 141 had several trees across it as well. It then crossed Highway 13 before continuing through several of the CR 538 series. In addition to the downed trees, multiple homes had minor roof damage or more substantial damage from trees on them. Maximum estimated winds 105 MPH.

This tornado started near Scott County Road 141 and tracked northeast. During its path, the tornado snapped small branches and limbs supporting an EF0 rating and ending on the beginning of Larry Easterling Road. The tornado continued into Scott County. Maximum estimated winds 75 MPH. Total path length 2.08 miles.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:14 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:50 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:43 UTC and running to 22:00 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), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:17 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.