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F3 tornado in Union County, Mississippi

Tornado January 3, 2000 · Union County, Mississippi

F3
Rating
43.2 mi
Whole path
600 yd
Path width
7
Injuries
$450K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Yalobusha County → Lafayette County → Union County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 600 yards (0.34 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado first developed just south of Highway 315 in the community of Hawkins Crossing and moved northeast across the northeast corner of Yalobusha county. The tornado continued into southwest Lafayette county and continued to travel northeast ending in Union county. In the town of Pinedale in southwest Union county, a new brick and vinyl siding home was obliterated. The debris extended up to 400 yards where a large freezer landed in a lake. A nearby pickup truck was rolled 20 yards and sustained extensive damage. Trees two to three feet in diameter were completely uprooted. In the town of Enterprise, a mobile home was completely destroyed and a conventional home sustained severe damage. Four other homes received extensive structural damage. The West Union School had minor roof damage and had numerous windows blown out. In the town of Myrtle, two mobile homes were destroyed and another mobile home was flipped on its side. In all, more than 60 homes were damaged in Union county.

Began near Pinedale (34.3833, -89.2500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5129729. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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