EF2 tornado, Escatawpa to Eastside, Mississippi, June 19, 2023

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

June 19, 2023

Touchdown

2:48 PM CDT (19:48 UTC)

Lifted

2:57 PM CDT (19:57 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

2.4 miles (3.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

Property damage

$773,000

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

30.420, -88.570

Lift-off point

30.400, -88.530

Record number

2306191348-01

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

• People needed to be rescued?
• NDVI differencing and video confirmation denote the start point of the Moss Point Tornado being on the western bank of the Pascagoula River.

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

A northwest upper level flow regime was in place. This setup commonly supports summertime severe thunderstorms. This event was one of those days where very steep lapse rates and high shear values supported several severe thunderstorms with damaging wind, flash flooding, hail and one EF-2 tornado.

A 130MPH EF2 tornado touched down near the confluence of the Pascagoula River and Escatawpa River at 2:48 PM CDT and moved southeast across the River and into the neighborhood on Griffin Street. Widespread tree branches were downed, along with some uprooted trees. Several homes had minor to moderate damage to siding and roofing. A fifth wheel RV was turned over on its side. At 2:54 PM CDT the tornado moved southeast towards Dantzler St. The damage was sporadic as it moved but one house on Bellview Ave took major roof damage, the carport collapsed and a motorhome parked nearby was overturned. It continued east-southeast over wetlands towards Main Street then sharply turned to the south-southeast. The tornado moved south along Main Street between Bellview Ave through E Bayou Ave. Numerous structures took roof damage with the most significant damage seen at the Merchants & Marines Bank and the First Missionary Baptist Church. Both buildings had the majority of the roof removed and several windows blown out. The Church's brick signage was completely destroyed. Several nearby older houses also received significant roof damage. This damage was the peak of this tornado with max winds of 130 mph and max width of 300 yards. The tornado continued southeastward towards Martin Luther King Blvd. The damage was sporadic with mainly trees downed and minor roof damage. The tornado then moved towards the intersection of Jackson St and McCall St where a small multi family home had its roof damaged. Due to the age and the type of construction, the south facing wall collapsed due to the roof damage. The tornado then continued east-southeastward and lifted before it reached Frederick Street at 2:57 PM CDT. Special thanks to the Jackson County Office of Emergency Services for their assistance in the survey including drone footage.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:46 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 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 16:12 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.

Pascagoula (PQL), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:47 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 2023 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.