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EF2 tornado in Itawamba County, Mississippi

Tornado May 8, 2008 · Itawamba County, Mississippi

EF2

Rating

1.4 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$150K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The initial tornado touchdown occurred in the Palestine community in extreme Northwest Itawamba County. Numerous large trees were uprooted or snapped. Several homes had partial roof damage. One home was severely damaged when a large part of its roof was torn off. The tornado lifted near the Natchez Trace Parkway about one mile southwest of Kirksville.

The wider storm

A weak warm front was located across North Mississippi during the morning of May 8th, 2008. Isolated thunderstorms began developing along the front. One thunderstorm quickly became severe and produced a significant tornado. Damaging winds, large hail, flash flooding and a weak tornado occurred from other thunderstorms.

Began near Ratliff (34.4289, -88.5264).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Lee County EF0 Lafayette County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 107348. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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