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EF2 tornado in Lee County, Mississippi

Tornado November 5, 2018 · Lee County, Mississippi

EF2

Rating

10.4 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

$3.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Pontotoc County → Lee County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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 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

The tornado developed in far eastern Pontotoc County along Lee Line Road. The tornado then caused EF-0 and EF-1 damage to homes and trees just west and north of the Tupelo Airport. As it approached Colonial Estates Road the tornado intensified and damaged numerous homes. Two homes had roofs completely removed and non-brick exterior walls collapsed on one of them. Several homes saw partial roof damage. As the tornado crossed McCullough Blvd., several businesses were damaged including one which had the roof partially removed. The tornado weakened and continued on snapping trees and causing some slight structural damage as it crossed I-22 where it hit buildings just south of Barnes Crossing Mall. The tornado intensified again as it crossed Bog Oaks Golf Club and approached an assisted living center. The tornado caused considerable roof damage to the assisted living center. The final damage seen before it lifted was observed along County Road 851.

The wider storm

A potent late fall storm system generated several severe thunderstorms and a couple of tornadoes across North Mississippi during the late evening hours of November 5th.

Began near Bissell (34.2611, -88.8254).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Itawamba County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 790549. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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