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EF1 tornado in Winston County, Mississippi

Tornado February 15, 2016 · Winston County, Mississippi

EF1
Rating
2.5 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
$45K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 began west of Hinze-Rural Hill Road near Lobutcha Creek. It snapped several softwood trees and uprooted a few hardwood trees. The tornado then tracked along Hinze Road where it continued to cause tree damage before lifting. The maximum estimated wind speed was 105mph.

The wider storm

Widespread severe weather occurred with a mix of damaging winds, hail and several tornadoes. The focus of the severe weather was across central and southern Mississippi. This event was driven by a potent disturbance that swung across the area during the midday and afternoon hours. As this strong feature dropped into the Lower Mississippi River Valley, a surface low rapidly deepened as it tracked across central Mississippi. The atmospheric response to this was for a rapid increase in winds aloft and higher low level moisture. This combination set the stage for an unstable environment that contained high levels of wind shear which supported and sustained tornado development.

Began near Hinze (33.0346, -89.2791).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 615305. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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