EF4 Tornado — Yazoo, Mississippi

2010-04-24 · near Enola, Yazoo, Mississippi

Event narrative

The tornado moved out of extreme southeast Sharkey County and into west central Yazoo County and gained intensity as it tracked northeast. The tornado caused significant home damage northwest of Satartia, and again as it crossed Highway 3 near the Crupp Community. The tornado then moved through a rural area southwest of Yazoo City, causing major damage or destruction of a number of homes, as well as intense tree damage. As the tornado approached the intersection of US Highway 49 and Highway 16, on the south side of Yazoo City, it reached its widest point and maximum intensity. Here the rating peaked at EF4 with maximum winds around 170 mph. The tornado had a maximum width of 1.75 miles. Several buildings, including a church and several businesses, were totally destroyed. The tornado continued moving through residential areas on the southeast side of Yazoo City, heavily damaging or destroying numerous homes. The tornado continued northeast through rural northeastern Yazoo County before it tracked into Holmes County.

A total of four fatalities occurred in Yazoo County. All of the fatalities were individuals who were in mobile homes.

Wider weather episode

During the midday hours of April 24th, an intense supercell thunderstorm produced a violent, long track tornado, which ripped a path across the center of the NWS Jackson, MS forecast area. This tornado touched down just south of I-20, west of Tallulah, in Madison Parish. The tornado intensified quickly and became large as it tracked at a fast pace to the northeast. The tornado moved at roughly 55 mph and was on the ground for 149 miles. The actual time on the ground was 2 hours and 44 minutes. The tornado touched 9 counties/parishes along it's path with the most significant damage occurring in Madison Parish, Warren, Yazoo, Holmes, Attala and Choctaw Counties. A great deal of the damage was in the EF2 and EF3 range with a couple locations of EF4 damage in Yazoo and Holmes Counties. Maximum winds peaked around 170 mph. Overall, 10 fatalities occurred along with 146 injuries. Five fatalities occurred in Choctaw County, 4 in Yazoo County, and 1 in Holmes County.

As we try and put this tornado into perspective for the state of Mississippi, this long track tornado ranks as the 4th longest in Mississippi history at 149 miles. It is the widest known tornado with a maximum width of 1.75 miles. It also ranks as the 9th deadliest tornado with 10 fatalities, making it the most deadly since November 21st 1992. Lastly, this was the first violent tornado (F4 or greater) in the month of April since April 18th, 1978.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7003, -90.6783)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 224551. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.