A powerful tornado struck a Mississippi county for the second time in less than three weeks, following a destructive twister that hit just before Valentine’s Day. The most recent tornado occurred on March 4, tearing through a path near the town of Whistler in northern Wayne County, Mississippi, close to the Alabama state line. According to the National Weather Service’s damage survey, two individuals were injured as a result of the tornado, with their single wide manufactured home thrown up to 100 yards and destroyed by the strong winds. Additionally, two more people were injured when their manufactured home was rolled over.
Just weeks earlier on February 12, a long-track EF3 tornado devastated a 26-mile path through northern Wayne County, causing significant damage to several homes. A double wide home was completely removed, and swathes of trees suffered near 100% deforestation, yet miraculously, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. The proximity of the paths of the February 12 and March 4 tornadoes in Wayne County can be seen on the map above.
Instances of consecutive tornadoes striking the same area have occurred in the past in Mississippi. Nearly five years ago, an EF3 tornado occurred less than 10 miles away from the paths of two EF4 tornadoes in southern Mississippi, all on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. This was followed by another EF4 tornado around 20 to 40 miles south of the Easter tornadoes just a week later.
During the super outbreak on April 27, 2011, Cordova, Alabama, was hit twice by tornadoes within a span of 12 hours, while Marshall County, Alabama, experienced tornado activity 15 times that day.
Jonathan Erdman, a senior meteorologist at weather.com with extensive experience in covering national and international weather since 1996, is passionate about extreme and unusual weather phenomena. You can connect with him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook.
