EF1 tornado in Rankin County, Mississippi

The tornado developed over the Ross Barnett Reservoir and traveled northeast, coming ashore in Rankin County to the west southwest of Goshen Springs. Trees and large limbs were downed, some of which fell on trailers in a hunting camp.

There was also several sources of video and photographic evidence for the path of the tornado over the Reservoir. It is likely that the winds were stronger than 90 mph, but since the rating is based on damage, the rating is limited to EF-1. The total path length was just over 7 miles.

A significant severe weather event and tornado outbreak affected portions of central Mississippi, southeastern Arkansas, and northeastern Louisiana on April 15th. This event evolved slowly and brought multiple rounds of severe storms to the region between 3 am and 9 pm. A total of 15 tornadoes occurred during this event with 3 being of the strong variety (EF2 or EF3). In addition, numerous reports of damaging straight-line winds occurred as well as instances of large hail. Some of the strongest storms produced hail from golf ball to baseball size. There were two reports of softball sized hail as well, one in Clarke County and the other in Kemper County. In addition to the severe storms, significant flash flooding occurred over northern portions of central Mississippi.