EF1 tornado, Ariel to Mars Hill, Mississippi, February 14, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

February 14, 2026

Touchdown

11:12 PM CST (05:12 UTC)

Lifted

11:19 PM CST (05:19 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

5.5 miles (8.9 km)

Path width

175 yards (160 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Amite County

Touchdown point

31.137, -90.928

Lift-off point

31.176, -90.847

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LIX

The office's name for it

Enterprise, MS Tornado

Survey last edited

June 8, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

An NWS storm survey with additional support from a local storm report has confirmed an EF-1 tornado occurred west of Liberty, MS in Amite County. This tornado began near Berwick Cassels and Smylie Rd where minor tree damage was identified. Additional patches of increasingly more notable tree damage as wide as 175 yards occurred as the tornado tracked northeast along Smylie Rd. The tornado reached peak intensity with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph as it approached Enterprise Rd and Lower Liberty Gloster Rd where it snapped tree trunks and uprooted numerous trees. A manufactured observed minor roof damage. More tree damage from this tornado was identified where it crossed MS Hwy 24, moving northeast. A local storm report identified additional notable tree damage with a few uprooted/snapped medium to large pine trees near Rattlesnake Ln. This tornado evidently lifted near the Amite River just before reaching Old 24 Compromise Rd.

Written by NWS LIX in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

65 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LIX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Several large limbs snapped. One tree uprooted. Very concentrated damage.
• Several uprooted trees in opposite directions.
• Metal batting cage thrown into the blown over fence. Hardwood tree snapped.
• Multiple large pine trees snapped. A few uprooted.

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

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the evening of February 14, 2026, ahead of a cold front and moved eastward across southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi overnight, maintaining organization as a QLCS with embedded circulations. The environment featured a moist and unstable airmass with increasing low-level shear, supporting the development of multiple brief tornadoes and widespread damaging winds. The first impacts occurred across southwest Mississippi late in the evening where several EF-1 tornadoes caused numerous snapped and uprooted trees, downed powerlines, and minor structural damage. As the line progressed into southeast Louisiana between late evening and the early overnight hours, additional EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes were confirmed across East Feliciana, Ascension, St. James, Tangipahoa, Washington, Lafourche, and St. Tammany Parishes, generally producing tree damage with localized impacts to homes and infrastructure, including roof damage, a flipped RV, and snapped power poles. Widespread straight-line winds accompanied the convective line, with gusts frequently reaching 50 to 60 mph, resulting in numerous reports of downed trees, broken limbs, minor structural damage, and isolated industrial impacts, including damage to a fiberglass cooling tower in Ascension Parish. The line continued east into coastal Mississippi during the early morning hours of February 15, producing additional brief tornadoes and wind damage, while marine observations across adjacent coastal waters recorded thunderstorm wind gusts generally between 35 and 45 knots with isolated higher values.

An EF-1 tornado touched down along Ancil Cox Road on the southwest side of Centreville near Griffin Lane. A few trees were downed here, with at least one of them taking down a powerline. The tornado tracked northeast, generally paralleling Ancil Cox Road until reaching the intersection with Old Highway 33. The most significant damage occurred near this intersection, where approximately a dozen trees were uprooted or snapped which supports the 90 mph wind rating. Beyond this point, the tornado continued northeastward producing sporadic tree and limb damage along its path. The final accessible point of the tornado���s track was near Centerville Academy. Minor damage was observed on campus, including a downed light pole, partial roof uplift on a metal building, and a baseball pitching backstop that was thrown approximately 250 feet into a chain-link fence. The tornado continued northeast beyond Lower Centreville Rd where additional minor tree damage was identified. The tornado evidently lifted over inaccessible areas to the survey team prior to reaching Hwy 48.

An NWS storm survey with additional support from a local storm report has confirmed an EF-1 tornado occurred west of Liberty, MS in Amite County. This tornado began near Berwick Cassels and Smylie Rd where minor tree damage was identified. Additional patches of increasingly more notable tree damage as wide as 175 yards occurred as the tornado tracked northeast along Smylie Rd. The tornado reached peak intensity with maximum sustained winds near 100 mph as it approached Enterprise Rd and Lower Liberty Gloster Rd where it snapped tree trunks and uprooted numerous trees. A manufactured observed minor roof damage. More tree damage from this tornado was identified where it crossed MS Hwy 24, moving northeast. A local storm report identified additional notable tree damage with a few uprooted/snapped medium to large pine trees near Rattlesnake Ln. This tornado evidently lifted near the Amite River just before reaching Old 24 Compromise Rd.

An EF-1 tornado with peak winds of 100 mph tracked north of Peoria, MS in Amite County. The tornado began near Patterson Rd where minor tree damage was identified. This minor tree damage continued northeast becoming gradually more severe as the tornado approached Peoria Rd. Dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted near and northeast of Peoria Rd as the tornado reached its peak intensity and a width of 200 yards. The tornado tracked northeast, crossing Highway 24 and East Fork Rd. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along this portion of the path. Additional minor tree damage was identified beyond East Fork Rd and Pray Rd on high resolution satellite imagery as the tornado evidently weakened. Patches of tree damage continued through Bass, Barron, Brown, and Thompson roads. Another brief swath of heavier tree damage occurred north of Thompson Rd as the tornado briefly reached a second peak at EF-1 intensity. The tornado weakened again and is estimated to have lifted after crossing Tangipahoa Rd and Hwy 570 where tree damage became too sparse to be considered a coherent track.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:54 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:22 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:57 UTC and running to 06:40 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 00:27 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 Hammond radar (KHDC), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:12 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 2026 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

19 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.