EF1 Tornado — Lee, Mississippi

2023-04-01 · near Tupelo, Lee, Mississippi

Event narrative

NWS meteorologists surveyed the damage in southern Tupelo and confirmed a relatively brief but strong EF1 tornado. The damage began along Nixon Drive, with minor roof and tree damage. Several roofs sustained damage along Chickasaw Trail, several trees were downed and a privacy fence was blown over near the North Mississippi Medical Center Women's Hospital. Several vehicles in this area were damaged as well. The damage intensified dramatically at the Legget and Platt warehouse, with likely failure of west-facing garage doors leading to roof uplift and collapse of most exterior walls. Damage here was rated high-end EF1, with winds estimated at 110 mph. Several semi-trailers were shifted in the back parking lot, with one being flipped. After crossing South Green Street, the Cooper Tire facility sustained considerable roof loss to several buildings, with insulation and roofing material scattered downwind. This damage was also rated EF1, with estimated winds of 100 mph. After crossing Highway 45, the damage path became weaker and slightly wider, with numerous small trees and tree limbs being damaged amid an extensive debris field from Cooper Tire. A small outbuilding was knocked down near the end of South Veterans Blvd as the damage path ended. It should be noted that excessive debris fallout continued for several miles eastward, although no visible damage was observed past South Veterans Blvd. Peak winds were estimated at 110 mph.

Wider weather episode

A regional tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon of Friday, March 31, 2023, and continued into the early morning hours of Saturday, April 1, 2023. This outbreak covered portions of the Ohio Valley, and the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valleys, including a good portion of the Mid-South and stretching into the Tennessee Valley. On Friday, March 31, a surface low was located near La Crosse, WI, with a cold front stretching south into central/southwest Missouri, western Arkansas, and into eastern Texas. Surface temperatures were mainly in the 70s to approaching 80 degrees with surface dewpoints in the lower to middle 60s, yielding Surface-Based CAPE (SBCAPE) values between 1500-2000 J/kg by Friday evening. Favorable upper-level divergence produced by the right entrance region of a 140-kt jet streak at 300 mb provided ample lift to produce strong to severe thunderstorms across the region. Directional and speed shear were impressive with 70-80 knots of Effective Bulk Shear present and 0-1 km Storm Relative Helicity values between 500-600 m2/s2, all more than enough for organized thunderstorms across the area. Discrete supercells started to develop across the Lower Mississippi Valley during the afternoon hours on March 31, 2023, eventually tracking into the Mid-South by late afternoon. The first supercell that developed in the Mid-South produced an EF-3 that caused major damage in Wynne, Arkansas. Tornadic supercells continued to produce significant tornado damage across the Mid-South into the early morning hours of April 1, 2023. The hardest hit areas besides Wynne, Arkansas included Covington, Tennessee, and McNairy County, Tennessee. Overall, 14 tornadoes occurred across the Mid-South along with several reports of wind damage and measured damaging wind speeds. Eighteen people in the Mid-South lost their lives in this outbreak.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1094718. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.