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F1 tornado in Sunflower County, Mississippi

Tornado September 24, 2005 · Sunflower County, Mississippi

F1
Rating
18.0 mi
Whole path
300 yd
Path width
3
Injuries
$2.5M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F1 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F1 meant moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken; the scale paired it with winds of 73–112 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.

The wider storm

This strong tornado touched down 4 miles south-southeast of Belzoni on Gunn Bayou Road, in Humphreys county. As the tornado approached Highway 12 and the City of Belzoni, it grew larger and more intense. Before it reached Belzoni, numerous trees and power lines were taken down. The tornado was most intense within an area just east of Belzoni to about 4 miles north of Belzoni. Here the heaviest and most extensive damage occurred. Several homes were significantly damaged, a modular commercial building was totally destroyed, the Belzoni school bus barn was heavily damage, and a number of cars, school buses and farm vehicles had windows blown out. After the tornado moved through the Belzoni area, it continued to track to the north pass Jaketown, Sky Lake and then into Sunflower county. After entering Sunflower county, just east-southeast of Inverness, the tornado continued to the north-northwest for another 5 miles before dissipating. After passing the Jaketown Community, the tornado remained over rural areas and caused damage to some farm outbuildings as well as doing damage to dozens of trees and power lines. The total path length across Humphreys and Sunflower counties was 18 miles with a maximum width of 800 yards and a maximum intensity rated F2.

Began near Inverness (33.3333, -90.5333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5478319. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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