Tornadoes rip across Mississippi, Arkansas

A severe weather system was dissipating in the South on Friday after tornadoes and hail damaged homes and businesses across two states. One person in Mississippi was injured, emergency officials said. The tornado in Arkansas on Thursday was categorized as an EF-2, with winds of about 111-135 mph, the National Weather Service said. In Mississippi, one home was lifted off its foundations, and mobile homes and a gas station were damaged. The storm caused some flooding in Tennessee and people in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia were placed under a flood watch. 

Are severe storms common in the south? Severe weather is common in the south during February, Georgia FOX meteorologist Shane Brown said. What’s less common is that Thursday’s storm system stretched from the south to the Great Lakes. In 2011, an EF-5 tornado ripped through Smithville, Miss. destroying everything in its path and impacting hundreds of people. 

Dig deeper: Read Esther Eaton’s report in WORLD Magazine on how people on both sides of the climate change issue are trying to talk it out.