EF3 Tornado — Smith, Mississippi

2019-12-16 · near Mize, Smith, Mississippi

Event narrative

This EF3 tornado started in far southeast Simpson County (Saratoga community) where a few trees were downed. It then moved into southwest Smith County where the damage increased. The Calvary Church was damaged along with a few other buildings, sheds and one small wooden home had the roof off. Many trees were uprooted and snapped along with power lines down. The tornado continued northeast across County roads 53 and 57. Intensity increased as tree and power line damage increased. Several homes in the area sustained some damage and 3 different groups of chicken houses were heavily damaged or destroyed. The tornado continued to intensify as it approached Highway 28 near Mize. Numerous and extensive tree damage was noted, especially in a focused corridor, indicative of a multi-vortex tornado. The most intense damage occurred just off County Road 58 where a well built brick home lost its roof and 75% of its exterior walls. An F250 truck and Toyota truck were thrown 200 yards into a pasture along with a few ATVs thrown a considerable distance. Multiple structures and chicken houses were heavily damaged near Highway 28 on the west, northwest, and north side of Mize. Extensive tree damage occurred as well along with power lines down. Along County Road 100, a well built brick home lost the entire roof and one outer wall. A large shed was destroyed and a tractor and boat were thrown 50 yards. Numerous power lines/poles were down as well. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Highway 35 and the intensity lessened a bit. Beyond Highway 35, most of the damage was to trees and power lines along with some minor damage to a few homes. The tornado dissipated just after it crossed County Road 93. Maximum winds were 150 mph. Total path length was 18.63 miles. Max path width was 1320 yards in Smith County.

Wider weather episode

A well defined, positively-tilted trough existed across the Southern Plains and at the surface, a cold front was progressing across Arkansas and Louisiana, while an intensifying area of low pressure propagated northeast along the boundary. Discrete supercells developed in the morning on December 16 and moved northeast, spawning multiple strong tornadoes over northeast Louisiana and south Mississippi. These storms produced a total of 10 tornadoes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.8076, -89.6547)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 865233. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.