High Wind in Warren, Mississippi

A rare damaging wind event occurred across a large portion of central Mississippi during the evening of April 29th. This event can be referred as a "Wake Low" event. This occurs as steady rain falls across an area and causes the air pressure to remain high. The "Wake Low" comes as the back edge of the rain shield dissipates and the air pressure is allowed to quickly respond and fall some 4 to 6 millibars (.12 to .18 inches of mercury) in a short amount of time, roughly 5 to 20 minutes. This rapid fall in air pressure causes the winds to blow at a good rate. The larger the air pressure fall, the stronger the winds will blow. What makes this event so rare is that damaging winds between 45 and 60 mph occurred when they typically only produce 20 to 30 mph winds.The strongest winds occurred along a corridor from Warren and Yazoo Counties east-northeast to Madison, Leake and Neshoba Counties where 45 to 60 mph sustained winds were widespread. These were not the only counties to be impacted however. Locations from Hinds, Copiah, Rankin, Simpson, Scott, Smith and Kemper were all impacted and received sustained winds between 40 and 50 mph. All these counties across central Mississippi had numerous trees blown down with many trees knocking down power lines and caused large power outages. Several trees fell on vehicles and homes causing more significant damage. One person was killed in northern Warren County when a tree fell on the mobile home and caused it to catch fire.