At 1:30 p.m. CST (19:30 UTC), the Severe Local Storms Unit of the United States Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C., released a severe weather bulletin indicating the likelihood of tornado-producing storms over portions of East Texas, southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, and western Mississippi.

[2] The destructive tornado may have first touched down over easternmost Madison Parish, Louisiana, crossed the Mississippi River, and felled trees on DeSoto Island.

However, official records indicate that the tornado first developed over the Yazoo River in Warren County, Mississippi.

[3][2] As it entered Vicksburg, the tornado, which followed heavy rain,[4] destroyed electrical services to the city and initiated several fires.

A total of 12 blocks of the city's business district were affected by the tornado, and fires also burned cotton.