TornadoLookup

Home / Mississippi / Smith

EF0 tornado in Smith County, Mississippi

Tornado April 18, 2019 · Smith County, Mississippi

EF0
Rating
12.9 mi
Whole path
50 yd
Path width
$317K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 tornado started near Scott County Road 141 and tracked northeast. During its path, the tornado snapped small branches and limbs supporting an EF0 rating and ending on the beginning of Larry Easterling Road. The tornado continued into Scott County. Maximum estimated winds 75 MPH. Total path length 2.08 miles.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Polkville (32.2060, -89.7122).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 813873. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.