EF3 Tornado — Scott, Mississippi

2014-04-28 · near Forest, Scott, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado developed just east of Forest, and quickly became intense along Old Highway 80. Just south of this road, it nearly destroyed a wood frame home, downing all but the most interior walls and carrying the debris away from the foundation. Three people were injured in this home, one seriously. It also completely destroyed a chicken house and also carried that debris well away. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted in this area as well. Shortly after causing this damage...the tornado weakened, and it dissipated after crossing Mcmillan Road. Maximum winds were around 140 mph.

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 → (32.3703, -89.4564)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 516099. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.