EF2 Tornado — Covington, Mississippi

2025-03-15 · near Hot Coffee, Covington, Mississippi

Event narrative

An EF-2 tornado touched down west of Hopewell near Roscoe McDaniel Road in Covington County where it damaged trees. It moved northeast, damaged the roof of a home, and destroyed a barn on Cole Road. The tornado then moved along Jones Chapel Road where numerous mobile homes were destroyed. A wood frame home atop CMU block was pushed off this foundation. The tornado continued northeast to the west of Hot Coffee and crossed MS Highway 532. Numerous additional mobile homes were completely destroyed including one which was thrown into a ravine. Notably, of all the mobile homes destroyed, no vehicles in the driveways were thrown nor shifted more than a few inches across the ground. As it continued northeast, the tornado crossed mostly rural portions of the county. It impacted a home on Gilmer Road where the roof of a brick home was removed. Dense forest was largely damaged or flattened in the vicinity of Oakahay Creek, and damage was noted to outbuildings. The tornado encountered a community of primarily mobile homes near Ben Stroud Lane. Numerous residents who had returned to begin clean up informed NWS surveyors that almost all of the community members had fled due to dire forecasts and tornado warnings. Several mobile homes were destroyed in this area. The tornado continued northeast and damaged forest, outbuildings, and mobile homes as it crossed into Smith County west of MS Highway 37. Near Highway 37 just south of Taylorsville, one couple recounted a harrowing tale of riding out the storm by accident in their vehicle while their brick house lost portions of a wall and the roof in front of them. The tornado moved across eastern portions of the town of Taylorsville and did consistent higher-end EF-2 damage to homes, businesses, and a large amount of trees. One older home on a hill and devoid of tree protection sustained heavy roof damage, and a wall was knocked down. Another wood frame house was completely destroyed, though investigation determined the home was heavily compromised due to termites and rot. On Comfort Street, a business had a block wall collapse because the windward facing wall consisted of numerous open sections (similar in construction to an older automotive shop). The tornado impacted the high school sporting complex where a field house was damaged, and the outfield wall of a baseball field was pushed down adjacent to substantial damage to adjacent forest. The tornado continued northeast with general weakening until it dissipated along County Road 9. The estimated maximum wind speeds in Covington County were 130 mph. The path length was 16.24 miles across the two counties. There were 11 injuries associated with this tornado.

Wider weather episode

Isolated severe thunderstorms developed across portions of Mississippi in the overnight hours of March 14th. Coverage of severe storms increased into the morning of the 15th before a squall line developed and moved across the area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.7110, -89.5121)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1264302. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.