EF2 tornado, Fruitland Park to Mc Lain, Mississippi, December 25, 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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

December 25, 2012

Touchdown

3:55 PM CST (21:55 UTC)

Lifted

4:34 PM CST (22:34 UTC)

On the ground

39 minutes

Path length

28.6 miles (46.1 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

4

Property damage

$200,000

Counties

Forrest, Perry and Greene counties

Touchdown point

30.907, -89.237

Lift-off point

31.116, -88.821

Record number

1212251555-01

73 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR and NWS JAN and NWS LIX and NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• A few snapped and uprooted pine trees
• Considerable tree damage along Ashe Nursery Rd. Multiple pine trees snapped or uprooted.
• Part of an awning along a walkway was blown off at the McLain Elementary School
• A hardwood tree was snapped

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

A regional severe weather outbreak unfolded during Christmas Day 2012 as a result of an anomalously strong and southward positioned trough axis over the southern plains and lower Mississippi River valley. Very strong cyclonically curved winds in the mid-levels of the atmosphere near 115 mph and a rapidly deepening surface low over Louisiana and Mississippi aided in strong low-level wind shear and destabilization for severe thunderstorm development. Early Christmas morning, a large elevated rain and thunderstorm shield overspread the entire ArkLaMiss region. A warm front pushed north through southern Louisiana and Mississippi through late morning and through the afternoon while a quickly advancing cold front and developing squall line were occurring across portions of Texas and Louisiana. A Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch was issued for all of southern Louisiana and Mississippi late Christmas morning for the expected potency of the rotating thunderstorms. Supercells began to develop ahead of the squall line across southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama south of the warm front during the afternoon. With such ample wind and speed shear, strong tornadoes developed that afternoon. The most notable tornadoes in NWS Jackson's area were two EF2 tornadoes in Lawrence and southern Forrest counties that destroyed several mobile homes and campers, snapped power poles, and uprooted or snapped hundreds of trees. Luckily, no fatalities occurred in association with the tornadoes. The tornado damage in Forrest County was part of a 61 mile long tornado that began in Pearl River County Mississippi, where EF-3 damage occurred, and ended in western Greene County. Numerous trees were reported down across much of central Mississippi from the advancing squall line and its damaging straight-line winds. Flash flooding also occurred across many areas leading to road closures. The severe weather and cold front finally cleared Mississippi by early Christmas evening.

A powerful storm system moved out of the plains on|Christmas, producing numerous strong storms across southeast|Mississippi, southwest Alabama, and the western Florida panhandle|out ahead of a strong cold front and accompanying squall line. Multiple|tornadoes, some long track, were observed along the central gulf coast|region. A total of eight tornadoes were observed across the NWS Mobile |county warning area.

Numerous soft and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. Multiple power poles were snapped. Two double wide mobile homes were completely destroyed, a pickup truck was rolled, and a single-wide mobile home suffered major damage. Large oaks were uprooted and a travel trailer was demolished by a falling tree. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 130 mph in Forrest County. ||This is the continuation of a longer tornado that started in Pearl River County at 3:10pm. This tornado was at it's strongest in Pearl River County with estimated wind speeds of 140 mph, which is EF-3 strength. The tornado finally ended in Greene County at 4:34pm. The total path length was 60.8 miles.

The tornado entered Perry County crossing the Desoto|National Forest as an EF-1 tornado approximately 100 yards wide.|The tornado increased in strength briefly to EF-2 as it moved across|Highway 29 knocking down electrical transmission lines. The tornado|crossed Lula Cooley road where it destroyed a manufactured home and|hunting camp off Snider Road. The tornado continued northeast as an|EF-1 producing damage to a few homes and widespread damage to trees.|The tornado left Perry County near Mclain. This tornado segment in|Perry County is part of a 61 mile long track tornado that went from|central Pearl River County to western Greene County Mississippi.

The tornado moved through the Mclain area producing|roof damage to an elementary school and a few homes...as well as|snapping several trees. The tornado lifted near the intersection|of Old Mississippi 24 and US Highway 98. This tornado segment in|Greene County is part of a 61 mile long track tornado that went|from central Pearl River County to western Greene County Mississippi.

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

36 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:19 UTC, 36 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:59 UTC and running to 01:47 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 19:51 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.

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:54 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 2012 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

32 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.