EF1 tornado in Leake County, Mississippi

This tornado started in the Bienville National Forest just west of Hattie Lyles Road as it snapped large hardwood tree limbs. It progressed northeast to Hatties Lyles Road where it uprooted hardwood trees and peeled off a portion of tin metal from a barn. It progressed northeast crossing Hillsboro-Ludlow Road and Calhoun Lane, resulting in broken hardwood tree limbs and uprooted hardwood trees. The continuation of uprooted hardwood trees was noted farther northeast at Cash Road, in addition to minor shingle roof damage to a nearby home. Persistent uprooting of several hardwood trees and the snapping of large hardwood tree limbs were seen at E Rhinewalt Road and West Rhinewalt Road. Tin roofing peeled off of old chicken houses occurred at Hall Road nearing the county line. The tornado moved into southern Leake County, where it crossed Union Ridge Road and Lindsay Road, causing the uproot of hardwood and softwood trees and broke several small tree limbs. The tornado moved farther northeast, moving across MS Highway 35, where several hardwood trees were either uprooted or had broken large tree limbs. It finally lifted north of Walnut Grove just east of Estes Mill Road, but not before snapping hardwood and softwood trees; some of the branches landed on the roof of a one-story home causing minor damage. Maximum estimated winds 95 MPH. Total path length 12.48 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.