EF3 tornado in Jones County, Mississippi

This tornado developed just to the west of Interstate 59 southwest of Sandersville. The tornado crossed the interstate and moved northeast into areas along Dogwood Trail and Magnolia Roads, snapping hundreds of trees and heavily damaging a number of houses and mobile homes. The tornado then turned more to the east, continuing to cause heavy tree damage and destroying a mobile home. As the tornado moved near the intersection of Pleasant Grove and Davenport Road, it reached its maximum intensity in Jones County. It destroyed a wood frame home, leaving only some interior walls standing, and destroyed hundreds of trees, including leaving some denuded and partially debarked. After this point, the tornado weakened somewhat, crossed Dallas-Brownlee Road, and then moved into Wayne County. Total path length was almost 11 miles. Maximum winds were around 145 mph.

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.