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EF3 tornado in Quitman County, Mississippi

Tornado December 23, 2015 · Quitman County, Mississippi

EF3

Rating

61.6 mi

Whole path

800 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$2.4M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Bolivar County → Coahoma County → Quitman County → Panola County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado moved from Coahoma County into Quitman County and temporarily weakened. The tornado damaged nearly 20 homes to the west and southwest of Marks. The tornado then tracked into Panola County.

The wider storm

Strong surface low pressure tracked from the Plains into the Mississippi River Valley while a strong cold front pushed into the Mid-South on December 23, 2015. A very moist and unstable airmass moved into the area as a warm front lifted north through the region during the early morning hours. A potent upper level disturbance help to trigger thunderstorms along and in advance of the approaching cold front. The necessary ingredients were in place for storm to rapidly intensify. Three tornadoes touched down across North Mississippi including an EF-4 that caused severe damage.

Began near Sabino (34.1695, -90.4510).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF4 Benton County 9 dead EF1 Prentiss County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 610230. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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