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EF2 tornado in Yazoo County, Mississippi

Tornado April 30, 2017 · Yazoo County, Mississippi

EF2
Rating
57.0 mi
Whole path
1,700 yd
Path width
1
Death
$6.2M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Yazoo County → Yazoo County → Madison County → Yazoo County → Holmes County → Holmes County → Attala County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,700 yards (0.97 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This strong tornado started east of Bentonia near Indian Creek where minor tree damage was noted and continued to travel along a path just north of the Big Black River. The tornado caused minor structural damage along Scotland Road, where it also downed hundreds of trees. The tornado was strongest as it crossed Trail End Road, where it snapped wooden power poles, caused minor structural damage and snapped and uprooted nearly 1000 trees. A tin roof was ripped completely off of a mobile home along Linwood Rd in the Berryville Community. Tree damage was also surveyed along near and along I-55 near and north of the Vaughan exit. The tornado crossed over I-55 before dissipating south of Pickens. The maximum estimated winds with this tornado was 120 mph.

The wider storm

During the early morning hours of April 30th, a squall line of severe thunderstorms developed across central Louisiana and pushed eastward across the ArkLaMiss. The line intensified as it approached the Mississippi River and caused wind damage and tornadoes. As the convective system evolved into Mississippi, numerous tornadoes developed along the advancing line, with the most prolific damage occurring along the track of a large meso-scale convective vortex (MCV). This feature tracked roughly from Claiborne County through western Hinds/Madison, eastern Yazoo, eastern Holmes, southeastern Carroll, Montgomery, and northwestern Webster counties. This corridor is where the most significant damage occurred, as well as one fatality. Flash flooding, hail, and other wind damage occurred as these storms moved through.

Began near Dover (32.6538, -90.3195).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 690548. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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