F2 tornado — Holmes County, Mississippi

F2 tornado in Holmes County, Mississippi

Tornado February 16, 2001 · Holmes County, Mississippi

Rating

4.0 mi

Path length

500 yd

Path width

Death

Injury

$50K

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 formed about 1.4 miles west of interstate 55 at mile marker 150, then tracked eastward. As the tornado tracked eastward across Interstate 55, an eighteen wheeler truck was overturned. The tornado continued to track eastward across Holmes County State Park, where many trees were blown down and several cabins were damaged. A woman caught in the storm at the State Park was killed when her car was blown on top of her after she had abandoned the vehicle to take refuge in a ditch. The tornado then moved eastward to a point just north of the highway 51/424 intersection and dissipated.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5232869. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F2 tornado in Holmes County, Mississippi

What the National Weather Service wrote

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address