EF2 Tornado — Pontotoc, Mississippi

2025-04-05 · near Toccopola, Pontotoc, Mississippi

Event narrative

The tornado crossed into northwest Pontotoc County, causing significant damage to trees and utility poles northwest of Thaxton, especially along Highway 336 and Carter Road. As the tornado moved northeast toward Hurricane, it produced substantial damage to several farm outbuildings and removed part of a roof from a home on Wells Road. Additional tree and utility pole damage was noted along Todd Road and Highways 346 and 355. The storm also had a substantial rear flank downdraft, resulting in straight-line wind damage in the Hurricane community east of the tornado track. The tornado then moved over forested bottomland around Mud Creek before crossing into Union County. Estimated peak winds across Pontotoc were 120 mph.

Wider weather episode

The front eventually sagged south back into the Mid-South during the early morning hours of April 5th. Strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in heavy rain and training storms across northern sections of the Mid-South, mainly north of I-40. A bow echo developed along and just south of the slowly advancing front. This feature crossed the entire forecast area producing 13 tornadoes, including an EF-2, and wind damage. Heavy rain continued through the morning hours with flash flooding increasing across the Mid-South.

The final round of severe weather occurred during the afternoon and evening of April 5th. The slow-moving cold front combined with an increasingly unstable airmass, strong upper-level divergence, and 0-6 km bulk shear values of 50-60 knots provided the ingredients for more severe storms. A QLCS with a bookend vortex pushed into east Arkansas and West TN with a good deal of wind damage. The southern end of the line became more supercellular during the afternoon and evening and produced seven tornadoes, including an EF-2. The combination of continued abundant moisture with precipitable water values greater than 1.75 inches and strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in very heavy rainfall and considerable flash flooding across much of the Mid-South.

The severe weather threat finally wound down by late evening on April 5th with the flash flood threat ending a few hours later. Total rainfall amounts of 10-15 inches occurred across parts of east Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, West Tennessee, and extreme northwest Mississippi during this event. This resulted in widespread river flooding for several days following the event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3100, -89.2460)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1257311. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.