Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2026
EF0 tornado, Midway to Coopers Wells, Mississippi, May 22, 2026
From Midway to Coopers Wells, this EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Hinds County on May 22, 2026, touching down at 4:37 AM CDT and reaching 175 yards wide. It killed nobody.
Preliminary. This is NWS JAN's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Midway Road Tornado. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The survey
- Rating, as surveyed
- EF0, preliminary
- Date
- May 22, 2026
- Touchdown
- 4:37 AM CDT (09:37 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:42 AM CDT (09:42 UTC)
- On the ground
- 5 minutes
- Path length
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
- Path width
- 175 yards (160 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Hinds County
- Touchdown point
- 32.197, -90.379
- Lift-off point
- 32.224, -90.366
- Highest wind the damage implies
- 75 mph
- Surveyed by
- NWS JAN
- The office's name for it
- Midway Road Tornado
- Survey last edited
- May 22, 2026
- Record number
- None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.
What the survey found
This weak tornado tracked north northeastward roughly along Midway Road from north of Oakley Palestine Road to Thigpen Road, then lifted near Seven Springs Road. Along the path, several large tree limbs were downed. A tornadic debris signature was observed on radar.
Written by NWS JAN in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.
The damage survey
6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 74 mph.
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
A few severe storms produced damaging winds which downed trees across portions of central and southern Mississippi. A brief, weak tornado also occurred near Midway Road in Hinds County.
This weak tornado tracked north northeastward roughly along Midway Road from north of Oakley Palestine Road to Thigpen Road, then lifted near Seven Springs Road. Along the path, several large tree limbs were downed. A tornadic debris signature (TDS) was observed on radar. Maximum winds were estimated at 75 mph (EF-0), the track length was 1.98 miles, and the maximum width was 175 yards.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
4 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:33 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:54 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:33 UTC | 09:54 UTC | Tornado Warning | JAN |
| 01:34 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | JAN |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:59 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 air that afternoon
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.
Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z
9.6 hours before the tornado, 30 km from the path. May 22, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 67 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -41 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1432 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 980 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 46 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z
2.4 hours after it, 30 km from the path. May 22, 2026.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 555 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1033 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 526 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 268 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 253 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.6
- Supercell composite
- 4.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.6 K/km
The surface observations
Raymond (JVW), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:55 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 130° 5 kt | 1010.5 | ||
| 08:15 UTC | 69.8 | 69.8 | 110° 5 kt | 1010.2 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:34 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Ssw Reganton | Claiborne, MS | *** 1 INJ *** Tree fell on a car along the Natchez Trace around mile marker 58. Inj person was airlifted. Est winds at this location and time appear be 40 mph or less. |
| 09:38 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Sse Raymond | Hinds, MS | A thin funnel touched down about 1 quarter mile south of Seven Springs Road just east of Midway Road. Tree damage observed. TDS also noted on radar after this. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2026 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 22, 2026
11 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 22 | 9:28 AM CDT | EF0 | Choctaw, AL | 1.5 | 180 | |||
| May 22 | 10:33 AM CDT | EF1 | Clarke, AL | 3.1 | 100 | |||
| May 22 | 10:43 AM CDT | EF1 | Marengo, AL | 2.3 | 150 | |||
| May 22 | 10:47 AM CDT | EF0 | Marengo, AL | 0.2 | 40 | |||
| May 22 | 10:52 AM CDT | EF1 | Clarke, AL | 2.2 | 250 | |||
| May 22 | 12:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Tuscaloosa, AL | 2.6 | 150 | |||
| May 22 | 12:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Cullman, AL | 8.7 | 300 | |||
| May 22 | 5:16 PM CDT | Unrated | Woodbury, IA | 0.6 | 0 | |||
| May 22 | 5:42 PM CDT | Unrated | Cass, NE | 0.1 | 0 | |||
| May 22 | 6:58 PM EDT | EF0 | Claiborne, TN | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| May 22 | 7:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Butler, KY | 0.3 | 30 |
What this means
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.
Sources
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.