EF0 tornado, Waveland, Mississippi, August 29, 2021

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

August 29, 2021

Touchdown

10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)

Lifted

10:18 PM CDT (03:18 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.9 miles (4.6 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Hancock County

Touchdown point

30.296, -89.366

Lift-off point

30.324, -89.401

Record number

2108292115-01

105 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LIX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 89 mph.

• tarp on roof, loss of roof material
• 3 houses in development that have roof damage
• at least 1 large hardwood tree down in the development
• at least one tree down in the neighborhood on Sears and Baker Street

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

The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea on August 23rd. On August 26th, the wave developed into a tropical depression, which organized further and became Tropical Storm Ida later that day, near Grand Cayman. On a northwestward track, Ida intensified into a hurricane on August 27, just before moving over western Cuba. A day later, the hurricane underwent rapid intensification over the Gulf of Mexico as it passed over a warm core eddy and reached major hurricane strength. It was just under 72 hours from tropical depression formation to category 4 strength with 150 mph winds. Ida remained at its peak intensity of 150 mph winds and a minimum central pressure of 929 millibars as it made landfall near Port Fourchon midday on August 29th. It didn���t weaken to a tropical storm until it reached near the Louisiana/Mississippi border.||Ida produced over a dozen tornadoes and light to moderate wind damage across southwestern and coastal Mississippi. Around 100,000 residents were without power. Around 100 homes were damaged, 6 destroyed. Storm surge inundation ranged from a few feet in Jackson County to 7 feet in Harrison County. Hurricane Ida caused approximately $10 million worth of damage.

A waterspout moved onshore near Morris St., Amar St., and Singleton St., damaging roofs on 8-10 houses in this neighborhood, and snapping or uprooting several trees. The tornado then tracked northwest, damaging roofs on 4-5 houses on Waveland Ave. and Sycamore St. There was evidence of roof damage to numerous apartments in the Oak Place Apartments near Hwy 90 and an additional 8-10 homes along Mediterranean St., Pacific St., and Danube St. The tornado likely lifted just south of Route 43/Kiln Rd in Hancock County, MS. Survey conducted remotely via high-res satellite imagery. Estimated peak winds of 80 mph.

A waterspout moved onshore, causing damage to a couple of residential roofs near Daniel St and Jeff Davis Ave. The tornado then tracked northwest across Highway 90 before damaging several homes and snapping or uprooting several trees north of Route 43 between 3rd Ave and D Ave. The tornado likely lifted just southeast of Whale Avenue. Survey conducted remotely via high-res satellite imagery. Estimated peak winds of 80 mph.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:01 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:50 UTC and running to 11:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:43 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.

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 2021 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

8 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.