EF1 tornado, Bertice to Free Trade, Mississippi, February 5, 2020

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

February 5, 2020

Touchdown

5:33 PM CST (23:33 UTC)

Lifted

5:48 PM CST (23:48 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

9.1 miles (14.7 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$55,000

County

Leake County

Touchdown point

32.664, -89.675

Lift-off point

32.711, -89.528

Record number

2002051733-01

10 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 100 mph.

• mobile home was located in front of shed but it got rolled off its straps several yards.
• a chicken house that collapsed on itself

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

A strong cold front moved through the region. Ahead of this, storms developed across Central Mississippi and produced tornadoes and wind damage.

This tornado crossed Highway 25 and moved along the Pearl River Bottom, snapping numerous hardwood trees. It moved northeast to near Pleasant Hill Road where it caused a chicken house to collapse on itself, and continued to snap several softwood trees in the nearby wooded area. As the tornado progressed along its northeastward path, it reached Highway 35 and caused the uproot of several trees along the Pearl River bottom, where it lifted thereafter. Max sustained winds 100 mph.

This tornado touched down along Highway 488 and snapped large softwood tree limbs. It then moved northeast to Ellis Road where it caused some roof damage to a manufactured home, as well as snapped and uprooted nearby softwood trees. It continued along its northeastward track to Charley Springs Road where it caused a mobile home to break its tie-downs and roll several yards thus completely destroying it. Additionally, a nearby compost shed composed of mostly wood and some metal was completely destroyed. It continued to track northeast to Hudson Road where it snapped small softwood tree limbs. Once it reached South Williams Road, it uprooted a few softwood trees and snapped small softwood tree limbs before it finally dissipated. Max sustained winds 100 mph.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:50 UTC and running to 23:50 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 20:00 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.

Madison (MBO), 54 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:30 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 2020 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.