Thunderstorm Wind — Copiah, Mississippi

2011-04-04 · near Crystal Spgs, Copiah, Mississippi

Event narrative

A swath of damaging thunderstorm winds affected areas from Crystal Springs to around Hopewell. Numerous trees were blown down with one on a house at Crystal Springs. Several trees were also blown down around Hopewell with a few across area roads. One person was killed when he crashed into a tree which was across the road.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.9900, -90.3600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 283021. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.