EF1 tornado, Pine Grove to New Byram, Mississippi, May 2, 2021

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

May 2, 2021

Touchdown

7:22 PM CDT (00:22 UTC)

Lifted

7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

6.9 miles (11.1 km)

Path width

1,000 yards (914 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Hinds County

Touchdown point

32.117, -90.362

Lift-off point

32.198, -90.293

Record number

2105021822-01

34 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 107 mph.

• Large tree fell onto house
• Half tin gone. Quarter decking gone
• Also several trees down incl on house
• Lots of trees also. S side of road

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

An upper-level shortwave trough moved from East Texas across Arkansas during the afternoon of May 2nd. At the surface, a warm front associated with the system developed and lifted north across Mississippi. Severe thunderstorms developed along and south of the warm front through the afternoon and evening, producing several tornadoes and scattered wind damage extending from the southwestern and west-central Mississippi toward north-central and northeastern portions of the state.

A tornado touched down just south of Lebanon-Pinegrove Road and east of Midway Road where a few trees were uprooted and the roof of a home was partially damaged. The tornado appeared to have widened as it continued northeast across Walker Road and the intersection of Ford Road and Old Jackson Road. Many large trees were uprooted or snapped in this area, and several trees fell onto and damaged homes. At least three homes also lost either a portion of their tin roofing or shingles and roof decking. A barn along Old Jackson Road was also damaged. Damage was highly consistent with an EF-1 rating and estimated peak wind speeds of 105 mph. A classic cyclonic, converging pattern was seen in the pattern of downed trees at Old Jackson Road and Ford Road. The tornado continued northeast through a forested area and fields before crossing Springridge Road where a few trees and large tree limbs were blown down. The tornado appeared to have narrowed and weakened at this point, with only sporadic minor tree damage and a few lost shingles and toppled basketball goals as it tracked into the neighborhoods across from the Gary Road schools. The tornado dissipated in the neighborhood without crossing Siwell Road.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:52 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:46 UTC and running to 01:59 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 19:43 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.

Raymond (JVW), 18 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), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:25 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 2021 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

26 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.