EF2 tornado, Hot Coffee to Ora, Mississippi, March 15, 2025

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 15, 2025

Touchdown

1:54 PM CDT (18:54 UTC)

Lifted

2:17 PM CDT (19:17 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

16.1 miles (25.9 km)

Path width

750 yards (686 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

11

Counties

Covington and Smith counties

Touchdown point

31.711, -89.512

Lift-off point

31.905, -89.360

Record number

2503151254-01

246 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF4. The highest wind the damage implies is 166 mph.

• Mobile home with tin peeling
• Multiple mixed forest uproots and snaps.
• Widespread tree snaps. First tornado per interview.
• Numerous pines down, possibly two paths. Hard to discern.

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

Isolated severe thunderstorms developed across portions of Mississippi in the overnight hours of March 14th. Coverage of severe storms increased into the morning of the 15th before a squall line developed and moved across the area.

An EF-2 tornado touched down west of Hopewell near Roscoe McDaniel Road in Covington County where it damaged trees. It moved northeast, damaged the roof of a home, and destroyed a barn on Cole Road. The tornado then moved along Jones Chapel Road where numerous mobile homes were destroyed. A wood frame home atop CMU block was pushed off this foundation. The tornado continued northeast to the west of Hot Coffee and crossed MS Highway 532. Numerous additional mobile homes were completely destroyed including one which was thrown into a ravine. Notably, of all the mobile homes destroyed, no vehicles in the driveways were thrown nor shifted more than a few inches across the ground. As it continued northeast, the tornado crossed mostly rural portions of the county. It impacted a home on Gilmer Road where the roof of a brick home was removed. Dense forest was largely damaged or flattened in the vicinity of Oakahay Creek, and damage was noted to outbuildings. The tornado encountered a community of primarily mobile homes near Ben Stroud Lane. Numerous residents who had returned to begin clean up informed NWS surveyors that almost all of the community members had fled due to dire forecasts and tornado warnings. Several mobile homes were destroyed in this area. The tornado continued northeast and damaged forest, outbuildings, and mobile homes as it crossed into Smith County west of MS Highway 37. Near Highway 37 just south of Taylorsville, one couple recounted a harrowing tale of riding out the storm by accident in their vehicle while their brick house lost portions of a wall and the roof in front of them. The tornado moved across eastern portions of the town of Taylorsville and did consistent higher-end EF-2 damage to homes, businesses, and a large amount of trees. One older home on a hill and devoid of tree protection sustained heavy roof damage, and a wall was knocked down. Another wood frame house was completely destroyed, though investigation determined the home was heavily compromised due to termites and rot. On Comfort Street, a business had a block wall collapse because the windward facing wall consisted of numerous open sections (similar in construction to an older automotive shop). The tornado impacted the high school sporting complex where a field house was damaged, and the outfield wall of a baseball field was pushed down adjacent to substantial damage to adjacent forest. The tornado continued northeast with general weakening until it dissipated along County Road 9. The estimated maximum wind speeds in Covington County were 130 mph. The path length was 16.24 miles across the two counties. There were 11 injuries associated with this tornado.

An EF-2 tornado touched down west of Hopewell near Roscoe McDaniel Road in Covington County where it damaged trees. It moved northeast, damaged the roof of a home, and destroyed a barn on Cole Road. The tornado then moved along Jones Chapel Road where numerous mobile homes were destroyed. A wood frame home atop CMU block was pushed off this foundation. The tornado continued northeast to the west of Hot Coffee and crossed MS Highway 532. Numerous additional mobile homes were completely destroyed including one which was thrown into a ravine. Notably, of all the mobile homes destroyed, no vehicles in the driveways were thrown nor shifted more than a few inches across the ground. As it continued northeast, the tornado crossed mostly rural portions of the county. It impacted a home on Gilmer Road where the roof of a brick home was removed. Dense forest was largely damaged or flattened in the vicinity of Oakahay Creek, and damage was noted to outbuildings. The tornado encountered a community of primarily mobile homes near Ben Stroud Lane. Numerous residents who had returned to begin clean up informed NWS surveyors that almost all of the community members had fled due to dire forecasts and tornado warnings. Several mobile homes were destroyed in this area. The tornado continued northeast and damaged forest, outbuildings, and mobile homes as it crossed into Smith County west of MS Highway 37. Near Highway 37 just south of Taylorsville, one couple recounted a harrowing tale of riding out the storm by accident in their vehicle while their brick house lost portions of a wall and the roof in front of them. The tornado moved across eastern portions of the town of Taylorsville and did consistent higher-end EF-2 damage to homes, businesses, and a large amount of trees. One older home on a hill and devoid of tree protection sustained heavy roof damage, and a wall was knocked down. Another wood frame house was completely destroyed, though investigation determined the home was heavily compromised due to termites and rot. On Comfort Street, a business had a block wall collapse because the windward facing wall consisted of numerous open sections (similar in construction to an older automotive shop). The tornado impacted the high school sporting complex where a field house was damaged, and the outfield wall of a baseball field was pushed down adjacent to substantial damage to adjacent forest. The tornado continued northeast with general weakening until it dissipated along County Road 9. The estimated maximum wind speeds in Smith County were 130 mph. The path length was 16.24 miles across the two counties.

An EF-2 tornado began southeast of Santee in Jefferson Davis County and moved northeast along Santee Methodist Road with widespread damage to trees as it moved northeast across eastern Jefferson Davis County. It crossed Bowie Creek and into Covington County near Wilson Road. The tornado destroyed several commercial chicken houses and crossed Blackjack New Chapel Road. It downed numerous trees in a wide swath, then moved across Spring Hill School Road only about 200-300 yards east of where a previous long track tornado had occurred less than an hour prior. These two tornado tracks intersected in a forested area just north of the roadway. The tornado continued northeast, where it largely destroyed three additional commercial chicken houses as well as damaged multiple buildings at a Methodist Church complex. Nearby, a building suffered substantial roof damage. The tornado continued to down trees and do mostly light to moderate damage to homes and outbuildings as it neared Old Mcintosh Road. Along T King road just west of Kirkley Road, the tornado downed numerous trees. Further northeast, an outbuilding and trees were damaged before the tornado dissipated north of Sunset Road. The maximum estimated wind speeds in Covington County were 130 mph. The total path length was 12.7 miles across the two counties.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:30 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:31 UTC and running to 22:38 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:34 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.

Laurel (LUL), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:51 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 2025 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

49 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.