EF1 tornado, Simonds to Pickwick, Mississippi, December 10, 2012

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 10, 2012

Touchdown

7:52 AM CST (13:52 UTC)

Lifted

8:25 AM CST (14:25 UTC)

On the ground

33 minutes

Path length

19.2 miles (30.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$140,000

Counties

Walthall and Marion counties

Touchdown point

31.010, -90.180

Lift-off point

31.135, -89.886

Record number

1212100752-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• trees snapped and uprooted
• trees snapped and uprooted...possible end of track
• Portable car shed torn from ground and flipped over a house. Trees snapped and uprooted.
• Numerous trees snapped and uprooted. Singles blown off a house and tv antenna snapped.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A cold front moving through southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi triggered numerous thunderstorms. A few of the storms triggered tornadoes including one in southern Walthall County.

A weak upper disturbance moved over the region on the evening of December 8th producing a couple stronger storms that dropped hail across Grenada and Leflore Counties. On the afternoon of the 9th an area of showers moving north along the Interstate 59 corridor produced two weak tornadoes as this activity pushed into south central Mississippi. The cells responsible for these tornadoes were very weak and did not even exhibit lightning. Later that night into the next morning a squall line moved across the region causing widespread wind damage, as well as another tornado in Marion County.

The tornado initially touched down near the intersection of Highway 27 and Simon Road. The storm moved northeast causing sporadic EF-0 damage for a few miles roughly along Simon and Taylor Roads. Near the intersection of Simon and Allen Hill roads, the tornado destroyed a metal building and threw the debris 200 to 300 yards down it's path. The storm strengthened as it neared Highway 48, causing more significant damage. Two homes suffered moderate damage to a brick facade, and roofing and a dairy barn was destroyed near the crossing of Dexter Road and Highway 48. The tornado then crossed Highway 48 and continued to cause significant damage to trees with some minor damage to a few more structures. It also picked up several large hay bales and threw them 75 to 100 feet. The tornado began to weaken as it approached the Walthall/Marion County line, but did continue to cause damage for a few more miles into Marion County per survey results from WFO Jackson MS. Estimated maximum wind speed in Walthall County was 100 mph.

Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along the path. A couple of sheds and a gazebo were destroyed. Shingle damage occurred to a couple of homes. A metal carport was blown onto a house. In addition, an antenna atop a house was snapped. This was a continuation of a tornado that came out of Walthall County. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 100 mph.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS LIX issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:33 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:44 UTC and running to 14:54 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:52 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.

Bogalusa (BXA), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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 2012 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.