NWS Jackson,MS, March 25 and 26, 2009 Severe Weather Outbreak

Severe Weather Brings Tornadoes to the ARKLAMISS

A round of severe thunderstorms containing tornadoes and damaging straight line winds occurred Wednesday night, March 25, into early Thursday morning, March 26. These storms developed as a strong upper level disturbance encountered an unstable environment over the lower Mississippi Valley. A squall line of showers and thunderstorms pushed rapidly eastward across the area. One supercell storm formed east of the line and led to the strong tornado that hit the town of Magee.

At this time, 6 tornadoes have been confirmed from this event. Of the 6 tornadoes, 1 was rated EF3, 1 was rated EF2, 3 were rated EF1, and 1 was rated EF0. Numerous other locations experienced damaging straight line winds in excess of 60-70 mph. Additional storm surveys may be required from this event once the Friday night event is finished.

The worst damage occurred with a 17.5 mile long track across Simpson and Smith counties. This storm was rated as EF3 with estimated 150 mph maximum winds near Magee. A second strong tornado, rated EF2 with 125 mph winds, affected Jones County near Soso.

NWS Jackson,MS, March 25 and 26, 2009 Severe Weather Outbreak

Damage Surveys: