EF3 Tornado — Rankin, Mississippi

2014-04-28 · near Lakeland, Rankin, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado initially developed just inside Hinds County along I-55 north of the Elton Road exit, where it caused some damage to a business and some trees. The tornado became intense just after crossing the Pearl River and moving into Rankin County, where it caused heavy damage to a number of commercial and industrial buildings in Richland and Pearl. EF-3 damage occurred in this area. One person was killed when the tornado picked up and threw her car when it crossed US Highway 49 in Richland. The tornado continued across more residential areas of Pearl, snapping and uprooting many trees and damaging some homes. Much of this damage was of an EF-1 intensity. As the tornado approached the Brandon city limits, it reintensified and caused high end EF-2 damage in a mobile home park near the border between Brandon and Pearl. It also caused significant roof damage to an auto dealership in Brandon and lesser damage to several other businesses. The tornado then moved across central areas of Brandon, snapping and downing a number of trees and causing some damage at the Brandon Middle School campus. The tornado continued east-northeast, passing just north of Shiloh Park, downing and snapping a number of trees in a residential area there. Most of this damage was EF-1 in nature. The tornado continued across more rural areas of Rankin County. It then crossed I-20 and caused significant damage to a gas station at the Pelahatchie exit. It passed just south of Pelahatchie and dissipated shortly after crossing into Scott County. Maximum winds were around 155 mph. Total path length was roughly 30 miles.

Wider weather episode

A powerful spring storm system brought a multi-day severe weather outbreak across a large portion of the country during the April 27-30 time frame. This outbreak started across the Central Plains on the 27th and slowly migrated eastward over the following two days. A large tornado outbreak occurred across the Lower MS River & TN River Valleys on the 28th. The event was capped on the 30th with additional severe weather and a historic flash flooding/heavy rain event along the AL, FL gulf coast where rainfall totals peaked between 15-25 inches!

Across the NWS Jackson, MS forecast area, the tornado outbreak on the 28th was the main event. This event was driven by a classic severe weather pattern with a strong fast moving jet stream and a deep surface cyclone over the central plains. These features helped to produce strong wind shear in the atmosphere which in turn combined with rich gulf moisture and setup a volatile atmospheric mix. Multiple supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon/evening and produced many instances of damaging wind and large hail along with multiple tornadoes. The most devastating tornado was the EF-4 which tore a path across NE Leake, the corners of Attala/Neshoba counties, and through the heart of Winston County where the city of Louisville was especially hard hit. This tornado was on ground for 34.3 miles and resulted in 10 fatalities and many injuries. Other hard hit counties were Lowndes, Rankin, Hinds, Scott, Newton, Montgomery, Warren and Jones. Each of these counties experienced at least one tornado, some multiple tornadoes. Overall, 21 tornadoes were confirmed across the forecast area. Of these tornadoes, 3 were rated EF-3, 3 rated EF-2, 12 rated EF1 and 2 rated EF-0.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.2319, -90.2060)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 508388. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.