EF1 tornado, Hamburg to Elmo, Mississippi, December 9, 2008

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF1

Date

December 9, 2008

Touchdown

7:46 PM CST (01:46 UTC)

Lifted

7:59 PM CST (01:59 UTC)

On the ground

13 minutes

Path length

10.6 miles (17.0 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$350,000

Crop damage

$500,000

Counties

Jefferson and Franklin counties

Touchdown point

31.600, -91.110

Lift-off point

31.642, -90.938

Record number

0812091946-01

A round of severe thunderstorms containing tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds, occurred Tuesday December 9th into Tuesday night across much of the Lower Mississippi River Valley. These storms developed along and ahead of a strong surface cold front and strong upper level disturbance. A surface low developed to our west and tracked eastward increasing the winds and drawing northward deep moisture and instability. The cold front steadily pushed east and clashed with the unstable and highly sheared environment and produced numerous severe thunderstorms as a squall line developed and tracked eastward across the region.||This event produced 16 tornadoes along with many reports of large hail, and wind damage. The majority of the severe weather occurred across central and southern Mississippi. Of the 16 tornadoes, 2 were rated EF2, 8 rated EF1, and 6 rated EF0.||Historically, these 16 tornadoes rank 2nd all time for the number of tornadoes in the month of December. The record is 19 which occurred during the December of 1988. Additionally, this December 9th event has pushed the yearly total of tornadoes in Mississippi to 109. This will set a new record for the number of tornadoes in a year for the state of Mississippi. The previous record of 99 was set in 2005.

The tornado started out in a forested area west of Hamburg. The timber damage in this area became quite intense, with swaths of pine trees snapped and leveled. As the tornado crossed Highway 33, it moved through a small community of homes, causing roof damage to a frame home and several mobile homes. Additionally, several outbuildings were destroyed, and windows were blown out of vehicles. The rest of the tornado��s path was across rural forested areas of southern Jefferson County, and damage was mainly limited to tree damage. However, one home did suffer some minor roof damage and some farm outbuildings sustained some roof damage. Maximum winds were around 105 mph. Total path length across northwest Franklin and southern Jefferson Counties was 11 miles.

The tornado started out in a forested area west of Hamburg. The timber damage in this area became quite intense, with swaths of pine trees snapped and leveled. As the tornado crossed Highway 33, it moved through a small community of homes, causing roof damage to a frame home and several mobile homes. Additionally, several outbuildings were destroyed, and windows were blown out of vehicles. The rest of the tornado��s path was across rural forested areas of southern Jefferson County, and damage was mainly limited to tree damage. However, one home did suffer some minor roof damage and some farm outbuildings sustained some roof damage. Maximum winds were around 105 mph. Total path length across northwest Franklin and southern Jefferson Counties was 11 miles.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:53 UTC and running to 04:29 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Natchez/Hardy(Awos) (HEZ), 26 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:44 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.