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EF2 tornado in Smith County, Mississippi

Tornado February 5, 2020 · Smith County, Mississippi

EF2
Rating
2.6 mi
Path length
440 yd
Path width
$20K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 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 starting point was confirmed by drone footage just west of Bienville National Forest Road 527. It moved northeast, snapping and uprooting multiple trees in a convergent pattern as it crossed this road. Tree damage ramped up considerably just east of this location, with more considerable tree fall as the tornado crossed Bienville National Forest Road 527-D, including a high percentage of snapped softwood trees and a few snapped hardwoods. In a previously-cleared forest area to the north of this road, nearly all of the dead trees that had remained standing were snapped within and along the tornado path. The road was blocked by numerous downed trees. Footage from a drone showed a well-defined vortex pattern in the fallen trees in this vicinity. The tornado weakened as it crossed Mississippi Highway 35 north of Shongelo Lake and Smith County Road 120, where just a few trees were uprooted. It uprooted a few more trees along Government Road, including one that blocked the roadway, before lifting. Max sustained winds were 115 mph.

The wider storm

A strong cold front moved through the region. Ahead of this, storms developed across Central Mississippi and produced tornadoes and wind damage.

Began near Burns (32.0906, -89.5363).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Yazoo CountyEF2 Attala CountyEF2 Jasper CountyEF1 Simpson CountyEF1 Yazoo CountyEF1 Attala CountyEF1 Leake CountyEF1 Leake County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 874691. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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