EF1 Tornado — Marion, Mississippi

2026-01-09 · near Kokomo, Marion, Mississippi

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado touched down just southwest of Fordsville Road east of Tylertown, MS in Wathall County. The worst damage damage was seen just northeast of the touchdown point with light damage to a roof and an area of tree damage with multiple uprooted trees. Light tree damage was noted along the path. It then crossed into Marion County where tree damage was noted near the intersection of Welch Lane and Branton Bay Road. The tornado tracked northeast, closely following Branton Bay Road up to Highway 98. The tornado did some roof damage to Popwell's Family Restaurant on Highway 98. The tornado ended as it crossed Old Highway 24. The maximum winds were estimated at 90 MPH. The total path length across Wathall and Marion counties was around 7 miles.

Wider weather episode

Severe storms with sufficient shear and instability produced severe weather across central Mississippi. The main feature, a mesovortex within a broken line of storms, produced several weak, brief tornadoes and some damaging winds in central Mississippi. This event featured multiple rounds of storms as well as heavy rainfall, which led to flash flooding across southeastern portions of the area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.1570, -90.0060)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1306721. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.