EF0 tornado, Riceville to Ligana, Mississippi, June 18, 2026

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0, preliminary

Date

June 18, 2026

Touchdown

7:21 AM CDT (12:21 UTC)

Lifted

7:22 AM CDT (12:22 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Harrison County

Touchdown point

30.631, -89.240

Lift-off point

30.638, -89.237

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS LIX

The office's name for it

Rural NW Harrison, MS Tornado

Survey last edited

July 24, 2026

Record number

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

The damage path of a brief EF-0 tornado was identified via high resolution satellite imagery in northwest Harrison County. This tornado caused predominantly damaged to trees over inaccessible areas between West Wortham and McHenry roads. This focused damage path closely aligned with a strong tornado vortex signature that crossed through the area. The tornado apparently lifted as it crossed McHenry Rd as no other damage could be identified as the circulation lifted northward.

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

86 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LIX and 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.

• Patch of trees displaced/damaged on high res satellite imagery.
• Roof partially peeled away on barn.
• Tree damage visible at this location via Sentinel 2 satellite imagery.
• several large trees downed along with roof damage to a few sheds and outbuildings

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

A mesoscale convective system formed on the eastern side of Post-Tropical Storm Arthur on June 18th. Favorable low level winds allowed for multiple mini-supercells to form on the leading edge of the mesoscale convective system resulting in a few tornadoes affecting coastal Mississippi. These tornadoes were rated as EF-0 and EF-1 events. A bow echo also developed over coastal Mississippi leading to severe winds and thunderstorm wind damage in the Gulfport-Biloxi metro area. Additionally, the mesoscale convective complex tapped into a region of deep tropical moisture with atmospheric moisture content well above normal levels for mid-June. This resulted in several significant flash flooding events in portions of coastal Mississippi including the city of Picayune. Two fatalities occurred near Picayune where rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour and QPE of 10 to 15 inches was noted. This very high rainfall total resulted in major flooding on the West Hobolochitto Creek on June 18th and this is where the fatalities occurred. Lingering moisture and weak upper level troughing associated with the slow moving remnants of Post-Tropical Storm Arthur produced additional thunderstorm activity on June 20th. This activity was focused in Biloxi where additional flash flooding occurred.

The damage path of a brief EF-0 tornado was identified via high resolution satellite imagery in northwest Harrison County. This tornado caused predominantly damaged to trees over inaccessible areas between West Wortham and McHenry roads. This focused damage path closely aligned with a strong tornado vortex signature that crossed through the area. The tornado apparently lifted as it crossed McHenry Rd as no other damage could be identified as the circulation lifted northward.

The tornado that began in Hancock County entered Harrison County at Deschamp Road. The tornado then evidently weakened and the damage path become more intermittent until it reached the Wolf River where another swath of trees was rated low-end EF-1. The tornado damage path became intermittent once more after crossing the intersection of Cemetery and Steel Bridge Rd. The tornado then evidently reached its third peak as an EF-1 tornado as it crossed Cemetery Rd and MS Hwy 53 where swaths of trees were damaged and uprooted. The tornado then rapidly dissipated as it continued northeast and it's estimated to have lifted prior to reaching Herman Ladner Rd.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:16 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:23 UTC and running to 12:57 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 05:49 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.

Gulfport-Biloxi (GPT), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:20 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

50 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.