EF3 Tornado — Jasper, Mississippi

2023-06-18 · near Hamlet, Jasper, Mississippi

Event narrative

An EF-3 tornado touched down along MS Highway 15 north of Bay Springs, moved northeast, and dissipated east of Louin. A few trees and power lines were blown down along Commerce Drive, and the Hol-Mac Plant sustained some minor damage to the roof and facilities. More intense structural damage occurred to buildings at Peco Farms where vehicles were also damaged, and a few loading trucks were flipped. Substantial tree damage began along the railroad tracks on the east side of the facility as the tornado moved across the property of Jones Lumber. There 3 metal building systems were demolished with an additional 3 having moderate to major damage. Estimated winds in this area were up to 150 mph. The tornado remained strong for much of its remaining path and caused substantial tree and power line damage. Notable tree fall against forward motion was also observed along the path. A few homes on the edge of the path had minor damage along County Road 1529 and 15291. A section of double wooden pole transmission lines was blown down just west of County Road 1537. The tornado was its widest near County Road 1537. As the tornado moved through the Tallahoma Creek bottom, significant tree damage occurred. The tornado crossed County Road 1612 where a chicken farm was demolished and extensive tree damage occurred. Several homes were damaged including one which lost its roof, and a mobile home was flipped. The tornado then moved across County Roads 16 and 16142. This area was where most homes were damaged or destroyed, and there were 1 fatality and 25 injuries. Estimated wind speeds here were up to 150 mph. Nearly a dozen mobile homes were destroyed including several which were thrown a considerable distance and broken into pieces. Almost a dozen conventional homes were severely damaged with roofs blown off or main walls blown down. The tornado continued across County Road 168 where substantial tree damage continued and several more homes were damaged including two with much of the roof torn off. The tornado then moved into a wooded area and dissipated before it reached County Road 23.

Wider weather episode

An upper-level shortwave trough moving east through the Central Plains initiated a few clusters of thunderstorms that spread into Mississippi during the morning of June 18th. With an unstable air mass and strong jet stream over the region, these storms became severe and produced hail and damaging wind through the morning. An additional round of severe storms developed during the evening of the 18th and into the morning of the 19th. This even resulted in a rare June tornado outbreak. The previous record for number of June tornadoes in the state of Mississippi was 7 in 1974. A total of 15 tornadoes occurred across the state from June 18-19, 2023 - making this event a record in its own right. The tornado which occurred near Louin, MS was the first F3 or EF-3 rated tornado in the state since 1957.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.0179, -89.2884)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1151487. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.