EF1 tornado, Waynesboro to Denham, 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 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

March 30, 2022

Touchdown

8:43 PM CDT (01:43 UTC)

Lifted

8:45 PM CDT (01:45 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wayne County

Touchdown point

31.656, -88.710

Lift-off point

31.656, -88.702

Record number

2203301943-01

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 EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Multiple softwood trees uprooted/snapped along with minor to moderate home damage.
• Multiple snapped softwoods, minor home damage
• Tree damage visible on high resolution satellite imagery at this location.

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 first of several tornadoes began 4 miles southwest of Woodwards|at 8:43 PM CDT on March 30th, 2022. The tornado began off of|Dubie Graham Drive where a house suffered moderate roof damage|with shingles torn off and partial uplift of the roof deck.|Several softwood trees were uprooted/snapped as it continued east|across Little Rock Road. This was the only area of notable|convergent damage and due to limited road access the start and end|points have been estimated.

A very brief EF1 tornado began shortly after the first to the|northeast towards Mack Hayes Drive at 8:45 PM CDT March 30th,|2022. This tornado uprooted and snapped multiple softwood trees|with one or two landing on an adjacent home. A mobile home|sustained some damage to its roof nearby. The damage on Mack Hayes|Drive was the only observable damage given nearby forest and|limited road access.

A 100 mph EF1 tornado tracked through northwestern Waynesboro on|March 30th, 2022 at 8:47 PM CDT. The tornado began on Pine Oak|Land Road as an EF0 where it uprooted several softwood trees. The|tornado continued northeast with a fairly discontinuous path until|it reached Glitter Lane. It was here that the tornado intensified|at the intersection of Glitter Lane and Joiner Street where|multiple softwood trees were snapped. It reached Aaron Drive|shortly after continuing to snap softwood trees and causing minor|roof damage. The tornado then turned more northeasterly from here|crossing Mill Street and uprooted multiple softwood trees. Once the|tornado reached Mississippi Drive it came across a small car wash|which had a partial canopy collapse of its eastern supporting|cinder block wall due to the strong wind load. Here it likely|produced its strongest winds near 100mph. The tornado began to|weaken and damage became intermittent as it crossed Joe Jordan|Road near the intersection of Bryce Street continuing to snap|several softwood trees. The tornado may have continued a little|northeast of here into a small forested area but no notable|convergent damage was noted surveying the areas to the northeast|along TF Giles Drive.

A brief EF1 tornado began at 8:55 PM CDT on March 30th, 2022 along|County Lake Denham Road where it uprooted several softwood trees and|resulted in minor roof damage to nearby homes. The tornado crossed|Denham Community Road where it briefly intensified to remove half|the roofing material of a medium sized storage building. Several|goat houses were also destroyed. A few trees were snapped along|this road however damage quickly became spotty after the northeast|bend of Denham Community Road. The end point is estimated at the|tree line prior to this bend just past the EF1 damage point.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:08 UTC, 35 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), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:39 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.