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EF2 tornado in Jackson County, Mississippi

Tornado June 19, 2023 · Jackson County, Mississippi

EF2
Rating
2.4 mi
Path length
300 yd
Path width
6
Injuries
$773K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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 130MPH EF2 tornado touched down near the confluence of the Pascagoula River and Escatawpa River at 2:48 PM CDT and moved southeast across the River and into the neighborhood on Griffin Street. Widespread tree branches were downed, along with some uprooted trees. Several homes had minor to moderate damage to siding and roofing. A fifth wheel RV was turned over on its side. At 2:54 PM CDT the tornado moved southeast towards Dantzler St. The damage was sporadic as it moved but one house on Bellview Ave took major roof damage, the carport collapsed and a motorhome parked nearby was overturned. It continued east-southeast over wetlands towards Main Street then sharply turned to the south-southeast. The tornado moved south along Main Street between Bellview Ave through E Bayou Ave. Numerous structures took roof damage with the most significant damage seen at the Merchants & Marines Bank and the First Missionary Baptist Church. Both buildings had the majority of the roof removed and several windows blown out. The Church's brick signage was completely destroyed. Several nearby older houses also received significant roof damage. This damage was the peak of this tornado with max winds of 130 mph and max width of 300 yards. The tornado continued southeastward towards Martin Luther King Blvd. The damage was sporadic with mainly trees downed and minor roof damage. The tornado then moved towards the intersection of Jackson St and McCall St where a small multi family home had its roof damaged. Due to the age and the type of construction, the south facing wall collapsed due to the roof damage. The tornado then continued east-southeastward and lifted before it reached Frederick Street at 2:57 PM CDT. Special thanks to the Jackson County Office of Emergency Services for their assistance in the survey including drone footage.

The wider storm

A northwest upper level flow regime was in place. This setup commonly supports summertime severe thunderstorms. This event was one of those days where very steep lapse rates and high shear values supported several severe thunderstorms with damaging wind, flash flooding, hail and one EF-2 tornado.

Began near Escatawpa (30.4200, -88.5700).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1116173. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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