EF3 Tornado — Noxubee, Mississippi

2013-04-11 · near Shuqualak, Noxubee, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado first touched down in southwest Kemper County and tracked north-northeast through much of Kemper and Noxubee Counties, and then into Pickens County Alabama. The most intense damage occurred in five locations along the path. The first was damage to a steel frame commercial building along highway 493 just north of Moscow. The second was a frame home that was completely destroyed along Highway 16 several miles west of De Kalb. The third was an extensive area of damage just west and northwest of Shuqualak that included a destroyed home as well as significant damage to several other homes and power poles. The fourth was high tension power poles that were bent along Highway 45 just north of Shuqualak. The fifth area was just west of Prairie Point where a tower was bent all the way to the ground.

Along the rest of the tornado path, thousands of trees were snapped and uprooted, numerous power poles were snapped, many homes sustained roof and wall damage, numerous barns and outbuildings were heavily damaged or destroyed, and a few vehicles were smashed or overturned. This tornado had a total track length of 68.4 miles across Mississippi and a portion of Alabama. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 145 mph.

Wider weather episode

A very warm and unstable airmass was in place over the region on the 10th with temperatures reaching into the mid to upper 80s across the region. A very slow moving cold front moved through Texas into Louisiana during the day on the 10th, bringing tornadoes to portions of central Arkansas near Little Rock. Some thunderstorms developed ahead of the approaching squall line, bringing some hail to portions of northeast Louisiana. Without a strong push behind the front, it lingered across locations west of the Mississippi River through most of the evening and overnight hours of the 10th through 11th.

The cold front and squall line finally pushed east early on the 11th. Temperatures across east Mississippi were able to remain warm and conditions remained unstable and supportive of severe weather. A few supercells developed ahead of the cold front. One that tracked through Kemper and Noxubee counties spawned a tornado that caused structural damage in this area. Unfortunately, five injuries and one fatality also occurred in Kemper County near Liberty. Another 4 injuries occurred in Noxubee County as well. Additional damage was noted in Clarke, Jasper and Forrest counties where trees were downed and some damage to structures was reported.

The cold front and post frontal rains finally moved out of the ArkLaMiss by mid afternoon, causing additional damage east to Alabama and Georgia.

In addition to severe weather, the region once again saw plenty of rainfall. On the 10th, locations across the Delta saw 1.5-3.5 inches of rain. The rain was more progressive as it tracked east but 1 to 2 inches was seen.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.9260, -88.6390)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 439749. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.