Videos of the Mississippi Monster Tornado

This giant tornado did not look like a typical tornado as indicated in this video and this video. When you combine the unconventional appearance with rain wrapping around the tornado (making it difficult to discern at close distances), the value of the warnings becomes even clearer.

And, why travelers should keep up on the weather when in a tornado watch.

The tornado was on the ground continuously for at least 97 miles. The survey of the entire 180 mile damage path is still in progress.

UPDATE:  From the NWS. This was a very, very rare occurrence. With a continuous damage path and width of this nature, this was the type of tornado that used to kill hundreds.

BEGINNING POINT: 5 MILES W OF TALLULAH, LA 32.408N, 91.283W
AT 11:06 AM
ENDING POINT: 5.5 MILES N OF STURGIS, MS 33.430N, 89.054W
AT 1:52 PM
PATH LENGTH: 149 MILES
MAXIMUM WIDTH: 1.75 MILES
RATING: EF-4, WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 170 MPH
CASUALTIES: 10 TOTAL FATALITIES WITH DOZENS OF INJURIES 




UPDATE II: This tornado appears to be in the top six tornado path lengths since we started keeping those statistics.