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EF1 tornado in George County, Mississippi

Tornado March 31, 2020 · George County, Mississippi

EF1
Rating
8.2 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
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 EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 formed just west of the Pascagoula River approximately 4 miles

southeast of Benndale. The tornado tore a metal roof from a house and uprooted

several large trees. The tornado continued east-southeast for approximately

8 miles. The tornado increased in intensity just to the east of the Pascagoula

River and struck another single family home and removed the roof. Numerous

large trees were both snapped and uprooted. Winds had increased to 95 mph in

this location and resulted in EF-1 damage. There was continued damage east

to several additional single family homes with additional roof damage and

tree damage. Numerous large hardwood trees were uprooted and at the tornadoes

strongest point winds approached 100 mph in an area near the intersection of

Park Drive and Basin Refuge Road. The tornado weakened further east and lifted

just to the west of Highway 63 along Phillips Road.

Additional straight line wind damage continued east-southeast from Highway 63

south of Lucedale to near the community of Agricola, where several trees were

uprooted and there was damage to outbuildings. Damaging winds were estimated

between 70 and 80 mph in these locations. There was no further wind damage

surveyed east of the Mississippi and Alabama state line.

The wider storm

An area of low pressure and trailing cold front moved across the southeastern states. A very warm and moist air mass developed ahead of this system and allowed strong to severe storms to develop. The thunderstorms produced an EF-1 tornado along with several reports of wind damage.

Began near Benndale (30.8400, -88.7500).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 880607. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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