1969 Hazlehurst tornadoes

Series of tornadoes across Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee May 2025 February 2025 January 23, 1969 3 F4 13 hours, 20 minutes 32 241 Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee the tornado outbreaks of 1969 A destructive series of three tornadoes hit Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee on January 23, 1969. This worst tornado was a violent F4 twister that devastated Hazlehurst, Mississippi and caused 32 fatalities.Tornadoes on January 23, 1969 http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1969/1/23/map https://web.archive.org/web/20160630045023/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1969/1/23/map usurped June 30, 2016 tornadohistoryproject.com May 28, 2016 Confirmed tornadoes no 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 + List of confirmed tornadoes – Thursday, January 23, 1969nb Date/Time All dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time for consistency.nb Width Prior to 1994, only the average widths of tornado paths were officially listed.Brooks Harold E. Harold E. Brooks On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity Weather and Forecasting April 2004 19 2 310 10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2 https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0434%282004%29019%3C0310%3AOTROTP%3E2.0.CO%3B2 11 September 2019 American Meteorological Society Boston 2004WtFor..19..310B free subscription F#LocationCounty / ParishStateStart Coord.Time (UTC)Path lengthMax widthSummary F4SSE of Fayette to SW of NewtonJefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Rankin, Smith, Scott, NewtonMS31.68 -91.05 Fayette (January 23, F4)11:25–13:00117.8 mi km on200 yd m on32 deaths – See section on this tornado – 241 people were injured.January 23, 1969 Tornadoes http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1969/1/23/table Tornado History Project Storm Prediction Center 4 July 2020 27 June 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200627203433/http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1969/1/23/table usurped F1WNW of CeruleanCaldwellKY37 -87.83 Cerulean (January 23, F1)22:00–?0.1 mi km on50 yd m onWeak, but destructive tornado destroyed a barn, tore the roof off of an outbuilding, and uprooted several trees. F2W of DoverStewartTN37 -87.83 Cerulean (January 23, F2)22:05–?0.1 mi km on10 yd m onFive homes and a tobacco barn were destroyed by this brief, but strong tornado. The tornado caused at least $75,000 (1969 USD) in damage. Hazlehurst, Mississippi Hazlehurst, Mississippi 1969 Hazlehurst tornado aerial.jpg An aerial of damage in Hazlehurst F4 32 241 At 4:19 a.m. (CST), radar indicated a strong thunderstorm cell strengthening rapidly southeast of Jonesville, Louisiana in Concordia Parish. A tornado soon occurred in Jefferson County, Mississippi, south-southeast of Fayette, where some damage was reported. The tornado mainly traveled through sparsely populated areas, excluding the Hazlehurst area. Mainly trees were either debarked or uprooted, but structures in Hazlehurst sustained extensive damage. Several parts of the path were widened, with the widest part being about 0.5 mi yd on wide. At another point, the tornado caused ground scouring and downed trees in all directions. Most of the structural damage occurred to outbuildings and farm buildings. The tornado was first noted near the Hazlehurst area at 5:45 a.m. (CST). A number of families in Hazlehurst lived on a hill near a lumber pond. The tornado dumped 18 people into the pond, of which all became missing. Afterwards, the pond was drained to try recovering the missing bodies. In Shady Grove, several buildings were destroyed. In Copiah County, 11 people were killed and 140 people were injured. The tornado caused $900,000 (1969 USD) damage in Copiah County. A family in Simpson County lay down on the floor and were not injured. A bus was parked in front of the home, and its body was blown away. South of Harrisville, a log house was reduced to rubble. Throughout the rest of the path (until the city of Puckett), 12 people were found dead. A family near Puckett were trying to escape the tornado, but their car wouldn't start. Instead, they jumped into a ditch and survived as their three-bedroom home was lifted off of its foundation. One of the family members was seriously injured by a falling limb. The tornado also lifted a tenant house into the air. A hog barn was also destroyed, which resulted in the fatalities of four hogs, of 800 which were in there. The tornado caused minor damage to trees before dissipating near Newton. Overall, 32 people were killed and 241 were injured.https://www.tornadotalk.com/hazlehurst-ms-f4-tornado-january-23-1969/ Hazlehurst, MS F4 Tornado – January 23, 1969 – Tornado Talk See also List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks Tornado outbreak sequence of Early-December 1953 1953 Vicksburg, Mississippi tornado Tornado outbreak of March 3–4, 1966 February 1971 Mississippi Delta tornado outbreak Notes nb References 01-23 1969-01-23 1969-01-23 1969-01-23 Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornadoes Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornadoes 1969-01-23 1969-01-23