EF0 tornado in Noxubee County, Mississippi

This tornado touched down and crossed Graham Road and downed several trees. The tornado then tracked through a wooded area and crossed Highway 16 on the west side of Scooba. Here more trees were snapped or uprooted along with a few power poles that were pushed over. The tornado impacted the west side of Scooba and the western part of East Mississippi Community College. Here the baseball field fence was torn down along with some of the field buildings damaged. Two mobile buildings were heavily damaged in this area. Numerous trees were damaged along with a couple homes with minor roof damage. The tornado then crossed Highway 45 where more trees were snapped. The tornado reached its peak intensity as it approached and crossed Old Highway 45 Road. Dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted along the path and one well-built barn was totally destroyed. There was also a grove of pine trees that sustained extensive damage where roughly 85% were snapped leaving very little standing. At this location, there was evidence of multiple vortices. The tornado continued to the northeast and crossed Millington Road, heavily damaging trees. At the end of Mosley Road, a home sustained some minor roof damage. Here an exterior wood built carport was totally destroyed along with a sizeable metal shed. The tornado damaged a few other metal sheds here along with damaging more trees as it moved into a wooded area. The tornado continued moving through the wooded area in far northern Kemper County and then tracked into southeast Noxubee County. Tree damage was noted at the end of White Horse Road. The tornado dissipated in the wooded area in the Noxubee river bottom. Peak EF2 winds were around 115 mph, which occurred in Kemper County. Maximum winds in Noxubee County were 75mph. Total path length was 18.5 miles. Maximum path width was 300 yards.

A spring like weather system took shape on Feb 2 and set the stage for a round of severe storms with tornadoes. A large surface low developed across the Eastern Plains and Midwest with an attendant surface front that extended southward into the ArkLaMiss region. While the core of the best lift was over the Midwest, a combination of sufficient lift along with strong wind shear and instability coexisted across portions of East-Central Mississippi. Several supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon with a few producing tornadoes. One cell in particular was efficient at producing tornadoes and produced 3 before moving into Alabama where it produced a few more. This cell impacted Newton, Lauderdale, Kemper, and Noxubee Counties with tornadoes, 2 of which were strong and rated EF2.