MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) – One of the violent EF-4 tornadoes that touched down in south Mississippi on Easter has been given an official width of at least 2 miles. That report is according to surveys conducted by the National Weather Service out of Jackson, Mississippi.
The Easter storm carved a path of damage for 68 miles and growing to at least two miles wide, making it wider than the Yazoo City tornado that hit Central Mississippi 10 years prior.
The widest storm on record is the El Reno, Oklahoma tornado that formed during a tornado outbreak back in May of 2013. The EF-3 storms swelled to 2.6 miles in diameter as it ripped a path across the Sooner State, killing nine people in its wake.
Back in Mississippi, there was a confirmed EF-3 storm and two confirmed EF-4 storms, almost following the same path across southern Mississippi.
The stronger of the two started in Jefferson Davis, County in Mississippi affected the communities of Bassfield, Soso, Moss, and Heidelburg. It was on the ground for nearly 68 miles before it finally lifted over Clarke County.
Trees, homes and other structures in the path of this tornado heavily damaged, destroyed or completely flattened and removed from where they once stood. As you can see from the image above, a very wide scar path was left from the widest tornado in Mississippi history.
To put two miles in perspective, that is 3,520 yards which is roughly 30 football fields! That is how wide the deadly Easter storm was as it was on the ground moving across the Magnolia State.
The Mississippi Easter storm will go down as one of the widest in history across all of the United States. Only the states of Oklahoma and Nebraska have seen storms wider than what occurred in Mississippi on Easter.
As we continue into our peak severe weather season across the Mid-South. It is important to have a safety plan in place in the event severe weather strikes your area. Know what to do and when, and how to protect yourself in the event storms are barring down on your area.
by Nick Gunter (2020, Apr 17) WMC
