Thunderstorm Wind — Madison, Mississippi

2020-03-04 · near Flora, Madison, Mississippi

Event narrative

The gust front associated with a severe thunderstorm produced widespread damage across southern Madison County. In Flora, the steeple was blown off the Jones Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, and a woman was injured and hospitalized when a tree fell onto her home and caused eight of her ribs to be broken while in her bed. Additional minor structural damage occurred in Flora. Dozens of homes across the county received damage from wind and from trees falling onto them, and several roads were closed due to fallen trees. Roofing and structural damage occurred to buildings and homes around the Gluckstadt area, including some busted windows and air conditioning units due to wind driven large hail. The service area of the Quick Lube and Tire shop in Gluckstadt experienced significant structural damage. A wall also collapsed at a commercial building along Nissan Parkway. Numerous softwood trees were snapped and uprooted along the Natchez Trace Parkway between mileposts 114 and 123. Several trees were uprooted or snapped in the Lake Caroline area. Numerous pine trees were also snapped south of Gluckstadt Road. The swath of damage was about 5 miles wide and continued into northern Rankin County.

Wider weather episode

A cold front stalled across southern Mississippi by the early morning hours on March 4th. With strong wind shear and an unstable atmosphere in place along the boundary, a few rounds of severe thunderstorms developed and moved across central and southern portions of Mississippi through the morning. These storms produced significant wind and hail including a swath of 90 mph wind and wind-driven hail damage to trees and structures that extended from Yazoo County to Newton County. There was also one EF-0 tornado which developed in Jefferson Davis County and moved into Covington County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.5700, -90.3600)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 879643. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.