EF1 Tornado — Montgomery, Mississippi

2017-04-30 · near Kilmichael, Montgomery, Mississippi

Event narrative

This tornado started southwest of Kilmichael just south of Vaiden-Kilmichael Road and tracked north-northeast. As it crossed Vaiden-Kilmichael Road, many trees were damaged and two sheds were destroyed, minor damage was noted to roofs on a couple homes. The tornado then entered and tracked through the town of Kilmichael uprooting/snapping thousands of trees. The tree damage was extensive through town. Dozens of homes sustained minor roof damage with a dozen or so more heavily damaged by fallen trees. A tall communications tower was broken in half and dozens of power poles and power lines were downed. The tornado continued north-northeast across Highway 82 and then along Minerva Road where many more trees were damaged. The tornado then crossed Mayfield Road where more heavy tree damage occurred and several power poles and powerlines were downed. The last accessible area was at the end of Mayfield Road on some private land, here more heavy tree damage was noted. The maximum estimated wind speed for this tornado was 110 mph.

Wider weather episode

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.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 690579. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.