EF2 Tornado — Simpson, Mississippi

2017-01-19 · near Saratoga, Simpson, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado touched down just east of Magee along Highway 28 at the intersection of Pine Grove Road. The tornado snapped a few trees here, then quickly grew and intensified. In the first half to 1 mile along Pine Grove Road, numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along with power lines being knocked down and some power poles snapped. Multiple homes had minor to moderate roof damage and most

of these were along the edge of the tornado. However, there were a few that were more directly in the path. These sustained heavier damage with one home completely destroyed. The roof was blown off along with most of the outer wall off. Here peak intensity was reached with winds estimated at 120 mph. Multiple sheds or large

barn type structures were heavily damaged or destroyed in this area as well. High end EF1 damage continued through the remainder of Simpson County where the tornado crossed C Stringer Road, Pine Grove Road again, and County Road 65 before moving into Smith County. Once in Smith County, most of the damage was from downed trees. The heaviest damage occurred as it crossed County Road 65 and County Road 108 where dozens of trees and several power lines were downed. A few

homes also sustained minor roof damage in this area. As the tornado crossed County Road 503, it weakened some but remained at EF1 intensity as it continued to the north-northeast and crossed County Road 114. The remainder of the damage was EF0 intensity as the tornado tracked west of Raleigh before it dissipated at Highway 35,

roughly 5 miles north of town. Maximum estimated winds were 120mph, which occurred in Simpson County. The total path length was 19.2 miles. One injury occurred.

Wider weather episode

Anomoulsly high moisture content was present across the region as an upper disturbance moved through the area. This resulted in some flash flooding in addition to some severe storms. A dam break occurred, which resulted in some flooding across Franklin County in addition to heavy rain.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.8672, -89.6690)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 676490. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.