EF2 tornado, Avera, Mississippi, April 17, 2022

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 17, 2022

Touchdown

9:02 PM CDT (02:02 UTC)

Lifted

9:06 PM CDT (02:06 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.8 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

County

Greene County

Touchdown point

31.287, -88.743

Lift-off point

31.273, -88.718

Record number

2204172002-01

34 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Numerous more trees snapped (lower/closer to the base) behind the home and into the woods.
• Siding damage to home, roofing/siding wrapped around front fence.
• 2 trees on home damage to siding and roofing; numerous snaps
• Numerous uproots and trees snapped

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

A very moist and unstable environment developed ahead of an approaching cold front. As this front entered the area during the evening hours, it triggered severe thunderstorms that produced tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds.

A QLCS produced a tornado off of Highway 63 and Lovewell Road|south of the town of Avera, initially snapping and uprooting|trees. One of the trees fell onto a vehicle near a manufactured|home. As the tornado moved southeast it strengthened into an EF-2,|snapping and decimating many large hardwood oak trees. The degree|of damage to these trees were enough to support a higher end|intensity estimate. A large tree limb from one of these oak trees|was turned into a projectile and injured a woman when it pierced|the side of the aforementioned manufactured home. The tornado|proceeded southeast, continuing to destroy hardwood trees in its|wake. It passed through an open field before coming upon more|trees and a small manufactured home. It snapped and uprooted many|of these trees (both soft and hardwood), with two falling onto the|manufactured home. The tornado then likely weakened to an EF-1|and continued southeastward, almost parallel to Highway 63. It|lifted and dissipated just before it reached Avera Road, but not|before tossing a large grain holder and tearing off metal portions|of a nearby barn roof. Debris from this roofing was seen strewn|out over the field.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:57 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:33 UTC and running to 02:54 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:46 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 Mobile radar (KMOB), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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 2022 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.