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EF1 tornado in Hinds County, Mississippi

Tornado April 4, 2011 · Hinds County, Mississippi

EF1
Rating
4.0 mi
Path length
440 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded
$100K
Crop damage
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado started near Highway 27 north of Utica, where it downed trees along the road. Along Ernie Martin Road, the tornado uprooted or snapped a number of pine trees. The tornado then moved nearly parallel to Tom Collins Road, uprooting a number of large hardwood trees and snapping many pine trees with damage in a convergent pattern. The tornado also destroyed two outbuildings. The tornado dissipated near Berry Road. Maximum winds were around 95 mph.

The wider storm

A powerful storm system took shape across the central United States and clashed with a warm and unstable airmass. An extensive and intense squall line resulted which quickly pushed eastward across the eastern half of the country. Overall, this system produced a large severe weather outbreak and brought widespread wind damage to multiple states across the south, mid south, and southeast United States. Nearly 1500 reports of severe weather were reported, across 15 states, with the vast majority being damaging winds. Wind damage was not the only severe weather event type, large hail and tornadoes were also part of the mix. In terms of total events (severe weather reports), this outbreak is one of the largest in the United States.

Across the National Weather Service Jackson forecast area, numerous reports of down trees and power lines were reported along with multiple reports of damaged structures. These structures were damaged by either fallen trees or intense winds. Survey teams found 5 tornadoes across the area, two of which were rated EF2. The first strong tornado moved into northwest Catahoula Parish from LaSalle Parish. The other strong tornado occurred across Tensas Parish and tracked to the MS River, crossed the river and dissipated in far northwest Claiborne County. The other three tornadoes were rated EF1. One of these occurred just north of Utica, in Hinds County, another tracked across northern Simpson County near Braxton, and the other across southeast Lincoln and southern Lawrence Counties.

Began near Utica (32.1284, -90.6278).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 283006. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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