EF2 tornado, Beaumont to Mc Lain, Mississippi, March 30, 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

March 30, 2022

Touchdown

8:46 PM CDT (01:46 UTC)

Lifted

8:49 PM CDT (01:49 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.3 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Perry and Greene counties

Touchdown point

31.095, -88.848

Lift-off point

31.113, -88.820

Record number

2203301946-01

19 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 115 mph.

• Trees snapped higher up, some splintered lower to the base
• Numerous trees snapped clean, some twisted further up, several knocked over; small chicken houses destroyed
• Tree knocked over on large carport (not attached well original, tree detached it) and power line; numerous trees snaps/splintered; narrow convergent path
• Several small snaps; damage to manufactured home undercarriage.

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

A very active severe weather season continued as an outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred across the area from the evening of the 30th into the early morning hours on the 31st. A strong spring storm system moved across the area. Ahead of the system plenty of Gulf moisture returned to the central Gulf coast. This led to a very unstable atmosphere over the region which combined to strong wind shear to produce 18 tornadoes which were rated from EF-0 to EF-2. In addition to the tornadoes, the storms produced damaging straight line winds and large hail. Numerous reports of damage came in from southeast Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida panhandle.

The tornado began in Perry County, MS near Punch Harvison Drive|and quickly intensified to peak strength near Leo Harvison Dr|where a large stand of softwood pines were cleanly snapped just|above the base. Adjacent to this, the metal roof of a home was|largely removed. However, an open carport on the west end of the|house provided a failure point; therefore, leaned toward the lower|end of the intensity estimates likely marking the right side of|the vortex. Several other hardwoods and softwoods were snapped or|uprooted near the home and several animal enclosures were damaged|or destroyed behind the house. The tornado weakened slightly as it|continued northeast across Dogwood Lane where a couple of snapped|softwoods and uprooted hardwoods were noted. An attached carport|to another home along Dogwood Lane also collapsed. The tornado|then began to widen to 250 yards as it approached Poplar Ave and|Thompson Hill Road in Mclain, MS (Greene County). Numerous|hardwoods and some softwoods were uprooted along Poplar Ave and|several homes had part of their tin roofs removed, likely due to|porch overhangs. A manufactured home was rolled on its side, with|two large pine trees that had fallen on top of it. The tornado|then crossed Main Street in Mclain causing roof damage to a|church, destroying a brick church sign, and uprooting and snapping|several hardwood and softwood trees. The tornado then continued|northeast towards Highway 98 where an abandoned single story|apartment building was partially destroyed with complete roof|removal. While damage was significant to the structure, poor|construction was noted and only minor tree damage to the|surrounding forest prevented a higher rating at this location. The|tornado lifted as it crossed Highway 98 with no damage noted|north of the highway.

The tornado began in Perry County, MS near Punch Harvison Drive|and quickly intensified to peak strength near Leo Harvison Dr|where a large stand of softwood pines were cleanly snapped just|above the base. Adjacent to this, the metal roof of a home was|largely removed. However, an open carport on the west end of the|house provided a failure point; therefore, leaned toward the lower|end of the intensity estimates likely marking the right side of|the vortex. Several other hardwoods and softwoods were snapped or|uprooted near the home and several animal enclosures were damaged|or destroyed behind the house. The tornado weakened slightly as it|continued northeast across Dogwood Lane where a couple of snapped|softwoods and uprooted hardwoods were noted. An attached carport|to another home along Dogwood Lane also collapsed. The tornado|then began to widen to 250 yards as it approached Poplar Ave and|Thompson Hill Road in Mclain, MS (Greene County). Numerous|hardwoods and some softwoods were uprooted along Poplar Ave and|several homes had part of their tin roofs removed, likely due to|porch overhangs. A manufactured home was rolled on its side, with|two large pine trees that had fallen on top of it. The tornado|then crossed Main Street in Mclain causing roof damage to a|church, destroying a brick church sign, and uprooting and snapping|several hardwood and softwood trees. The tornado then continued|northeast towards Highway 98 where an abandoned single story|apartment building was partially destroyed with complete roof|removal. While damage was significant to the structure, poor|construction was noted and only minor tree damage to the|surrounding forest prevented a higher rating at this location. The|tornado lifted as it crossed Highway 98 with no damage noted|north of the highway.

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

33 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:13 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:39 UTC and running to 04:00 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:46 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

80 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 81 of them

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.