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EF2 tornado in Sharkey County, Mississippi

Tornado December 13, 2022 · Sharkey County, Mississippi

EF2
Rating
1.1 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
3
Injuries
$1.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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

A tornado touched down north of Rolling Fork Road where a few trees had limbs damaged. The tornado intensified quickly as it traveled northeast across Garfield Rd. and destroyed numerous outbuildings. The tornado reached its maximum intensity as it crossed Rolling Fork Rd. and destroyed a well-constructed outbuilding after pulling out concrete anchors weighing several hundred pounds. The concrete was lofted and carried about 50 yards before landing on the pavement. The tornado continued northeastward, with some fluctuation in strength as it damaged numerous trees and caused primarily roof damage to homes. As the tornado crossed US Highway 61, several mobile homes were rolled and destroyed. In this group of homes, three injuries were reported. The tornado weakened and lifted shortly after over farmland. The maximum width was 250 yards. The maximum wind speed was 125 mph.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms moved across Mississippi during the evening and overnight hours of the 13th into the 14th, with flash flooding across areas of the Delta and several tornadoes. Severe storm coverage diminished during the night, but storms became severe again during the afternoon of the 14th as a cold front interacted with a warm and unstable air mass in the region. Tornadoes on the 14th were generally along and south of the Interstate 20 corridor with severe storms continuing into the evening.

Began near Anguilla (32.9700, -90.8400).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1077241. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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