EF0 tornado in Simpson County, Mississippi

This tornado developed along Brandon Williamsburg Road near the Simpson-Rankin line and moved mostly northward to just north of Puckett and up Highway 43. At the early stages, this tornado was fairly wide but was only breaking large limbs and downing some trees. Some EF1 tree damage was noted along County Line Road, then weakening occurred again as it moved North-Northeast and approached Highway 18. Intensity picked up again along Highway 18 as a few corridors of trees were downed and some power lines and poles. Here seems to be the beginning of multiple vortices. As the tornado moved past Highway 18, most of the path was west of Highway 43. Rapid intensification occurred as it neared John Mayton Road. Here, it grew quite wide with two primary intense corridors for a period as it peaked in intensity, EF2. The evidence was extensive tree damage with massive swaths of trees snapped and uprooted. A couple homes were in the vicinity of these and suffered some damage, mostly from trees. The tornado began to turn more North and North-northwest from here as its movement was being influenced by an approaching larger meso-vortex. Just north of John Mayton Road, more evidence of multiple vortices was noted with a zone of higher damage on the east side of the highway and another 500 yds west. Another extensive tree damage corridor occurred near this area with EF2 type tree snapping. From this point, the tornado began to weaken some as its circulation was becoming more affected by the approaching meso-vortex and incipient tornado. In the vicinity of Thornton Road, this tornado became absorbed into the meso-vortex within the eastward advancing line and the tornado dissipated while the other tornado maintained, then headed eastward. This tornado continued into Rankin County. Maximum estimated winds 84 MPH. Total path length 9.86 miles.

During the daytime hours of April 18th, a developing storm system helped generate a large line of thunderstorms which then moved across the region. From this, a regional outbreak of tornadoes along with widespread wind damage occurred. This line became efficient at producing tornadoes as a meso-scale vortex developed. The combination of multiple environmental features, set the stage for 43 tornadoes to occur over the forecast area. This ranks as 4th most for a single event across the forecast area. In addition to the tornadoes, widespread wind damage occurred as well.