Nearby granite tombstones from a cemetery were blown over in the opposite direction of the tornado's passage, and some were broken and thrown. The 2011 Smithville, Mississippi tornado was an extremely violent EF5 wedge tornado that devastated areas of rural Mississippi, including the town of Smithville, Mississippi during the afternoon of April 27, 2011, resulting in catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities. The frequency has ranged from several tornadoes rated this magnitude in a single year to multi-year periods with none. The NWS-Huntsville, Alabama office issued 90 tornado warnings, alone that day. Hydrology Fire Weather Become a Patron! Copyright TWC Product and Technology LLC 2014, 2023. The United States experienced a record-breaking tornado outbreak from the morning of April 25th through the early morning hours of April 28th. They were the first 5-rated tornadoes there since March 3, 1966. Which City Is the Worst for Fall Allergies This Year? C. Todd Sherman/The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, via Associated Press. The individual tornado paths from the April 25-28, 2011, Super Outbreak added up to an almost unfathomable3,200 path miles, by far the greatest of any U.S. outbreak, according to Greg Forbes, former severe weather expert at The Weather Channel. [2] Smithville is the birthplace of Rod Brasfield, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Meteorologists from the National Weather Servicesurvey areas where tornado damage has occurred. There was no doubt in my mind that we were all going to die, Mr. Hathcock said. The atmosphere reloaded quickly Wednesday morning and became increasingly favorable for more severe storms. Nationwide [4] A total of 16 people were killed, [5] and 40 people were injured. The wind shear that was caused by the increasing winds aloft, and turning of the winds from south to westerly, was at rare levels for late April. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. A comprehensive study of lofted tornado debris in 2012 from the April 27, 2011, Super Outbreak was the first such study to utilize social media. Another sinister aspect to the 2011 Super Outbreak was the repeated rounds of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. One focuses on the Smithville, MS side. Scientists attribute at least part of the 2011 Super Outbreaks notoriety to chance. Questions or comments about this summary? Please Contact Us. However, this system spawned threeEF-5 tornadoes in only a four-day span in addition to 12 EF-4s and 21 EF-3s. It did not take long for these storms to take on classic supercell structures and begin producing tornadoes. Because it struck fewer urban and suburban areas than the 2011 Super Outbreak. Unauthorized use is prohibited. 27 tornado count differs from that shown in map above. Read the Late April Tornado Outbreak Summary. But, the 1974 system caused fewer deaths and less monetary damage than its more recent counterpart. Google Earth - April 12 - 28, 2011 KMZ. [8] The large brick E.E. In total, 92.5 miles of destruction is viewed in this documentary.An enormous thanks to the Tornado Talk team for allowing me to use some of their brilliantly well research information and exclusive imagery. The NCDC and NWS Birmingham list a total path length of 37.3 miles. Tracks of 15 violent - EF4 or EF5 - tornadoes on April 27, 2011. Tornado tracks, Enhanced Fujita scale ratings and county fatalities on Apr. 27, 2011. The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. Making his way out of the rubble immediately after the storm, C. J. found two of them dead. His best friend held the 2-year-old. Get Prepared The first tornado producing storms to move across the Mid-South developed in Southwestern Arkansas during the late afternoon hours of April 25th. Jesse Cox, 85, died in the house, and his wife, Nell Cox, 75, was seriously injured when an EF5 tornado swept through the town on April 27, 2011. Around 5:20 a.m. CDT, a tornado intensified quickly as it tracked into the city of just over 2,000 residents. It's been over eight years since the last catastrophic EF5tornadostruck theUnited States, occurring in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013. the EF4 tornado claimed 65 lives along an 80-mile path, National Weather Service - Jackson, Mississippi, storm survey, massive EF5 tornado that earlier devastated the towns Phil Campbell and Hackleburg. Local AHPS The school previously vied for the title in 1989, losing to a Mt. The tornado had estimated winds of 205 mph (330 km/hr), destroyed 18 homes, and . Storm account from an Itawamba county resident on April 27th, 2011. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM. This allowed the atmosphere to recharge and become unstable again. Crews were still searching for bodies behind the towns school. County: Monroe, Itawamba (MS)/ Marion, Franklin (AL), SPC Coordinates: Start: 34.0455/-88.4450 End: 34.3226/-87.8924. At this time, roughly 342 people lost their lives, with thousands moreinjured. (Photo by Carmen K. Sisson/Cloudybright) Sunday morning . -A home's concrete slab was pulled out of the ground, with large part missing in the center. And, the event as a whole killed more people than any outbreak since 1936, when 454 individuals died. Spot Forecast Request The National Weather Service classified the Wednesday afternoon twister that hit Smithville as an EF-5, the strongest rating for tornado damage. The April 27, 2011, Smithville, Mississippi, EF5 tornado carried a Ford Explorer roughly one-half mile before colliding it with the town's water tower. Second, a cold front was moving across central Arkansas. National Weather Service The Tennessee Valley Authority's electrical generation and distribution took a massive hit from the 2011 Super Outbreak. Local Data About Us. One brick residence was swept away along this segment of the path as well, and part of its concrete foundation slab was pulled up and slightly dislodged, with extensive ground scouring and debarking of trees noted on the property. Shrubbery along the perimeters of some homes was shredded and/or stripped as well, and debris from many of the obliterated homes was finely granulated into small pieces. Forecast Discussion The bow echo raced across central and eastern Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River at around 10 pm on the 25th. Debris cleanup in Tuscaloosa alone cost $100 million. Outlooks We've compiled a list of the most jaw-dropping facets of this outbreak that we'll never forget. Mississippi Highway 25 traverses Smithville, connecting the town with Fulton to the north and Amory to the south. More impressively, this line produced many tornadoes and is responsible for 21 of the total tornadoes for this event. Haley Barbour stopped by Smithville, which is in the northeast corner of the state, to offer assurances that more help was on the way. Tornado Database 2014 paper. Hydrology [6][1][5][dead link], The tornado then entered Smithville at maximum intensity, producing EF5 damage as it moved through both commercial and residential areas. Der Tornado von Vicksburg, Mississippi aus dem Jahr 1953 war ein tdlicher F5-Tornado, deram Samstag, dem 5. US Dept of Commerce Smithville High School won two 1A football state championships in 1993 and 1998. Tropical Weather View Storm Report Aviation I felt the house swirling around, she said. [1] Winter Weather The storms formed into a bow echo, similar to the squall line that moved across the Mid-South on April 4, 2011. About Us. Surface Observations SKYWARN Overall, the tornado destroyed 117 structures in Smithville and damaged 50 others, killing 16 people. Education Click on a link below to see the latest storm survey information for the indicated Counties. Dalrymple Family Foundation historical marker at Smithville Town Hall. (MORE: A Meteorologist's Marathon Broadcast of the Superoutbreak). And while communities throughout. Perhaps the most indelible live coverage of this Super Outbreak was the split screen shown on ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama, showing both a live cam of a wedge tornado roaring through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, as meteorologist James Spann was showing the classic hook echo and debris ball (indicating of tornado-lofted debris) on radar. Northeast of Philadelphia, Mississippi, a swath of ground was scoured out to a depth of two feet, in some places. Here are all of the tornado tracks across the Midsouth. The Cox family lost its father, Jessie, to the tornado, while directly next door his sons house sat untouched, one of the few. The per capita income for the town $14,030. Memphis, TN7777 Walnut Grove Road, OM1Memphis, TN 38120(901) 544-0399Comments? This tornado was rated EF5 and tracked for 29 miles into Noxubee County. A semi truck was torn apart with the only remaining piece found 1.4 miles away. First, a new surface low pressure developed overnight across western Arkansas and was heading towards the Mid-South. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and the Red Cross found 89.5 percent of the deaths in this outbreak were from these violent tornadoes. EF5 damage to a large, well-built, anchored house in Smithvile, Mississippi. Three-quarters of the town is gone. For a quick comparison, the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974 produced 148 tornadoes. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. study concluded power outages caused by the morning pair of squall lines, including non-functioning outdoor sirens and NOAA weather radio transmitter outages, reduced the ability to get warnings out to the public during the most deadly afternoon and evening supercells in central and northern Alabama. It lifted up her house, turned it like a spinning coin and then set it down again several feet from the foundation. The Weather Companys primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. Continuing northeast, the tornado re-intensified as it struck the rural community of Shottsville at high-end EF3 intensity, where homes and mobile homes were destroyed, hundreds of trees were snapped and debarked, and seven more people were killed. [4] A total of 16 people were killed,[5] and 40 people were injured. Experiences of Smithville, Mississippi Residents with the 27 April 2011 Tornado Volume 36 Number 2 ~ December 2012 95 it is still not recommended, especially in the Southeast where tornado visibility is reduced (Ashley 2007). Zooming to the neighborhood level will not show the precise path. His mother, just out of the shower, was covered in a quilt. Tar and chip pavement was torn from a road in town and rolled into piles, intense ground scouring was noted in several areas, and a 1965 Chevrolet pickup truck was thrown from one residence and never found. An oak tree fell next to it and anchored the house, keeping the wind from hauling Mrs. Boyd and her home away. Mr. Estis died that evening when his heart gave out. 0-3 km significant tornado parameter (STP) at 10 p.m. EDT on April 27, 2011. Additionally, this marks the first time since statistics have been kept that two EF5 tornadoes have been recorded on the same day in Mississippi, with the tornado in Smithville also rated as an EF5. Beyond connecting the two summaries, this overview page also features track maps and discrepancies. He is giving you something better.. US Dept of Commerce The previous EF4 tornado occurred on April 29, 2017 in Canton, Texas. This storm later produced tornadoes in Hardeman and Chester counties. Outlook [9] The tornado weakened as it continued through rural areas northeast of town and moved into Itawamba County, where it uprooted numerous trees and power lines and caused roof damage to a house before exiting the county. The SPC/NCDC lists the starting point as 3 miles WSW of Smithville. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters, U.S. Drought: Weekly Report for February 21, 2023, U.S. Drought: Weekly Report for February 14, 2023, U.S. Drought: Weekly Report for February 7, 2023. About half of the deathsfrom 2000 through 2019 were from tornadoes rated EF4 or EF5. It was considered the Wal-Mart of Smithville, she said. Itclaimed more than 300 lives, injured 2,775 and was responsible for $12 billion in total damage, making it the costliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. Before photo courtesy of Google Earth and after photo taken April 29, 2011, from NOAAs King Air Aircraft, courtesy of the National Geodetic Survey. Support Tornado Talk on Patreon! A semi-truck was thrown 300yd (270m) and destroyed in this area, and an RV was thrown 250yd (230m) and partially embedded into the ground nearby. Tornado is spotted moving through Smithville, Mississippi on Thursday as sirens wail. Radar loop from 7:01 a.m. to 11:03 p.m. CT, April 27, 2011, illustrating the three rounds of severe t-storms in the Deep South and Tennessee Valley. Radar [4] Another 50tornadoes touched down on this day. The .gov means its official. The tornado hit Smithville, Mississippi, where it killed at least 14 people, and moved northeast nearly 3 miles toward the Alabama border. Sign Up for the Morning Brief - a weekday newsletter infused with your forecast, fun facts, articles and bite-sized nuggets to energize your day. Please see their terms and conditions. Until April 2011, three years had passed without a single EF-5 tornadothe strongest rating on the Enhanced Fujita scale, associated with winds in excess of 200 mph. A special report on all of the extreme weather and climate conditions of April 2011 will be released by early summer 2011. Fed by a nearby waterway, the tornado churned right along the main street, Highway 25, chewing up houses and businesses, and shaking up the town like a child with a snow globe. Please try another search. They could not breathe. The most ferocious damage of the 2011 outbreak occurred in Alabama. The coordinates on the NWS Memphis website put it at 3.35 miles to the WSW of Smithville. We know there is a tremendous amount of debris, and the possibility that the waterways surrounding this area contain human remains, Mr. Barbour said. Its just the way the Lord done it. Very few tornadoes have been given the most violent EF5/F5 rating since 1950. But this house and that house yonder were not so lucky. 2011 had the second-most EF5/F5 tornadoes of any year with six. Please select one of the following: Situational Awareness for Everyone (SAFE) Page, Latest Public Information Statement (PNS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. One storm moved across Crittenden and Shelby counties between 5 and 7 pm. 27, 2011. Hardship happens to you. An earlier ending time via radar data was found at 4:21 pm CDT. Heavy rain again lingered through most of the early to mid morning hours. [1] The tornado was a part of the 2011 Super Outbreak, the largest tornado outbreak in United States history. Nobody in the house was badly hurt. Ample moisture from the Gulf of Mexico was brought north across the Deep South, leading to daytime high temperatures of 77 to 81F (25 to 27C) and dewpoints of 66 to 72F (19 to 22C). Threeadditional supercells produced tornadoes, very large hail, and wind damage across Phillips, Coahoma, and Tunica counties during this same time frame. 27, 2011. The mangled remains of the SUV that impacted the water tower was found in a ditch at the edge of this wooded area. A powerful low-pressure system combined with moist and unstable atmospheric conditions to produce this now-infamous tornado outbreak. Olive (MS) team quarterbacked by future NFL great Steve McNair. Extreme damage at a residence along Highway 25 near Smithville, with part of the foundation slab pulled up and dislodged slightly. 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