EF1 tornado, Liberty to Gillisburg, Mississippi, June 4, 2024

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

June 4, 2024

Touchdown

4:36 PM CDT (21:36 UTC)

Lifted

4:42 PM CDT (21:42 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.2 miles (6.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Amite County

Touchdown point

31.180, -90.870

Lift-off point

31.170, -90.800

Record number

2406041536-01

44 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 100 mph.

• Convergent into further north points along same road
• Convergent to the northeast
• Laying due north into circulation
• Two snapped pines laying to the NE

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

The start of what would eventually be a very potent Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) began around midnight on June 4th in central Oklahoma. A cluster of thunderstorms became outflow dominant with the convection chasing the outflow boundary southeastward. The MCS had weakened quite a bit as it moved into northwest Louisiana. However, strong daytime heating and pooling moisture ahead of this was waiting for it in southern Mississippi. Those warm temps and high dewpoints increased surface and mid level instability that would support very strong updrafts. Although shear was relatively low, it was sufficient to support severe weather. About the time the MCS reached the Mississippi River, it began to rapidly intensify into a well organized system. As it moved through the area, it produced wide spread wind damage and four tornadoes. No injuries or fatalities reported with these tornadoes.

An EF-1 tornado embedded in a QLCS formed along Enterprise Rd west of Liberty where a large pine tree was snapped. This tornado then moved eastward towards Toler Ln where it peaked in intensity. Here, a swath of at least 20 pine trees were snapped clean near the base. This tornado then weakened as it moved east over highway 567 where only limbs were noted. The tornado came to the end of its lifecycle near McLain and Meadville Rd where it uprooted more pines and broke off large limbs. Peak winds were 100 mph.

This EF-1 tornado embedded in a QLCS formed along Highway 24 east of Liberty. Here, large limbs were broken off an oak tree. The tornado moved to the east-southeast towards Patterson Rd where small limbs were broken and uprooted trees were noted. This tornado strengthened to peak intensity of 100 mph as it moved into a patch of trees just west and on Peoria Rd. Here, large swaths of trees were either snapped or uprooted in a convergent pattern. A tree fell on a home here, but no one was injured. This tornado then paralleled Turner Rd to the south where it continued to snap and uproot pines. Damage from where a mobile home used to be was noted, but it's unclear whether it was from the storm. This tornado continued to the east-southeast before lifting soon after snapping a tree along Lower Glading Rd.

An EF-1 tornado embedded in a QLCS started just north of the Louisiana/Mississippi State line in Gillsburg. It uprooted and snapped hardwoods along Travis Rd and Highway 568. The tornado traveled eastward, snapping and uprooting many trees along Highway 571 and 584. The tornado exited Amite County near where Trinity Creek enters into Pike County. Peak winds were 95 mph.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:04 UTC and running to 23:45 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. The outlook in force was issued at 20:08 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.

Mccomb/Lewis Field (MCB), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Hammond radar (KHDC), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:32 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 2024 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

7 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.