Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2012

EF1 tornado, Ovett, Mississippi, December 25, 2012

Name: EF1 tornado, Ovett, Mississippi, December 25, 2012
Start: 2012-12-25T22:09:00.000Z
End: 2012-12-25T22:11:00.000Z
Location: Ovett, Mississippi

This EF1 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Jones County on December 25, 2012, touching down at 4:09 PM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF1
Date: December 25, 2012
Touchdown: 4:09 PM CST (22:09 UTC)
Lifted: 4:11 PM CST (22:11 UTC)
On the ground: 2 minutes
Path length: 1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width: 100 yards (91 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $50,000
County: Jones County
Touchdown point: 31.474, -89.028
Lift-off point: 31.486, -89.013
Record number: 1212251609-01

The damage survey

11 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 105 mph.

A barn was damaged along Lower Ovett Rd. Beginning of tornado track.
Roof damaged, fence blown down
Several softwood trees snapped
Several pine trees snapped

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

What the Weather Service recorded

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.

Numerous soft and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. A single-wide mobile home had partial roof damage. A small barn had the walls collapse. A small out building was blown over. The roof collapsed on a small barn. A family residence had significant roof and siding damage. Maximum winds were estimated at 105 mph.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Jackson, MS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Dec 25, 10:22 AM CST, 5 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 25, 10:22 AM CST, 5 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
1022 AM CST TUE DEC 25 2012

...DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER AND HEAVY RAIN EVENT EXPECTED FOR THE
REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...

.SHORT TERM...
COMPLEX SCENARIO ONGOING THIS MORNING AS ONE OF THE MORE DYNAMIC
SYSTEMS I HAVE SEEN AT THIS LATITUDE IMPACTING THE AREA. THE HIGHLY
UNUSUAL NATURE OF THIS SYSTEM IS QUANTIFIED BY PSU ANOMALY CHARTS
WHICH SHOW 500 MB AND MSLP WILL BE 4-5 SIGMA BELOW NORMAL BY THIS
AFTERNOON...AND SLU CIPS WHICH HAS NO MATCHING ANALOGS WITH A SCORE
ABOVE 9.5 INDICATING LIMITED ABILITY TO MATCH WITH ANY HISTORICAL
PATTERN. SHORT RANGE MODELS ARE NOW IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT WITH
SHOWING A HIGHLY VOLATILE SEVERE WEATHER SETUP FOR SOUTHERN AND
EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. SURFACE ANALYSIS
SHOWS WARM FRONT CURRENTLY LIES ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF OUR
CWA...WITH SATELLITE SHOWING LOTS OF SUN DEVELOPING IN THE WARM
SECTOR WITH TEMPS RISING INTO THE 70S AND DEWPOINTS INTO THE
MID/UPPER 60S. AS INTENSE CYCLOGENESIS OCCURS IN LA THIS
AFTERNOON...EXPECT WARM FRONT TO CONTINUE TO LIFT N AND AS 90-100 KT
MID LEVEL JET SWINGS OUT INTO THE WARM SECTOR...STAGE WILL BE SET FOR
SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER EPISODE. HIGH RESOLUTION AND CONVECTION
ALLOWING MODELS AGREE ON NUMEROUS SUPERCELLS WITH HIGH UPDRAFT
HELICITY VALUES MOVING THROUGH THE SOUTH 1/2 OF AREA THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING AND HAVE WORDED HWO AND SPS VERY STRONGLY. MAIN QUESTION
AS FAR AS SEVERE WEATHER IS HOW FAR NORTH THE WARM FRONT AND
ASSOCIATED MAJOR THREAT GETS. HIGH RES WRF RUNS IMPLY WARM FRONT
MAKING IT UP TO ABOUT I-20 IN MS AND CURLING BACK SW FROM THERE AS
DEEPENING LOW GRADUALLY FORMS AN OCCLUSION AND MOVES THROUGH THE
DELTA. TEND TO LEAN TOWARD THIS TYPE OF EVOLUTION WITH GREATEST
TORNADO POTENTIAL ALONG AND S OF A WINNSBORO...TO CANTON...TO MACON
LINE...BUT 12Z NAM IN PARTICULAR IMPLIES THIS COULD GET A BIT FARTHER
N AND HAVE WORDED HWO/SPS TO ACCOUNT FOR UNCERTAINTY. IT SHOULD BE
STRESSED THAT AREAS RIGHT ALONG THE WARM FRONT COULD HAVE A
PARTICULARLY ENHANCED TORNADIC RISK SHOULD A SUPERCELL TRACK ALONG
THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. EVENTUAL EVOLUTION INTO A QLCS COULD ENHANCE
WIND DAMAGE POTENTIAL EVEN FARTHER N INTO NC/NE MS...BUT THINK COLD
AIR WILL REMAIN DEEP ENOUGH OVER MOST OF THE UPPER DELTA TO RESULT IN
ANY SEVERE WEATHER RISK BEING PRIMARILY IN THE FORM OF HAIL

OTHER BIG THREAT IS HEAVY RAIN POTENTIAL. MANY AREAS HAVE ALREADY
SEEN 1-2 INCHES OF RAIN THIS MORNING WITH INITIAL WAVE OF
CONVECTION...AND PONDING OF WATER ALREADY AN ISSUE. 1.81" HAS FALLEN
AT KJAN. WITH INCREASED ASCENT AND LARGE AREA OF CONVECTION OVER THE
ARKLATEX ASSOCIATED WITH MAIN SYSTEM STILL TO COME THROUGH...HAVE
HOISTED AN FFA FOR THE ENTIRE AREA. EXPECT WIDESPREAD STORM TOTALS
OF 2-4" WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS...WHICH IN DECEMBER ALMOST
ALWAYS CAUSES AT LEAST LOCALIZED FLOODING ISSUES.

FINALLY...CONTINUED TREND TOWARD A SLIGHLY MORE SE TRACK OF SURFACE
LOW BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR A QUICKER CHANGEOVER TO SNOW INTO PLAY
IN THE DELTA TONIGHT...PARTICULARLY GIVEN THE INCREDIBLE
BAROCLINICITY ACROSS THE AREA WITH COLD AIR NOT FAR AWAY (25F IN NW
AR AND 72 AT KBTR). HAVE UPDATED THE GRIDS TO SPEED UP THE MIXING IN
WITH SNOW A BIT IN THE DELTA THIS EVENING...AND MAY HAVE TO CONSIDER
POSSIBILITY OF SOME MINOR ACCUMULATIONS ESPECIALLY FOR BOLIVAR
COUNTY FOR TONIGHT. WILL LOOK AT THIS MORE CLOSELY THIS AFTERNOON.

&&

.AVIATION...TREACHEROUS FLYING CONDITIONS ONGOING AND XPCTD TO
CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY AS IFR/MVFR CIGS ALONG WITH PERIODIC
+TSRA/HEAVY DOWNPOURS WILL IMPACT ALL TAF SITES. STRONG AND SEVERE
+TSRA COULD OCCUR THIS AFTN WITH 65-75 KT GUSTS AND HALF-DOLLAR
SIZED HAIL ALONG WITH TORNADOES FOR CNTRL/SRN SITES AND POSSIBLY
KGTR. STORM TOPS TO FL450-500 AND SEVERE TURBULENCE CAN BE XPCTD
INVOF STORMS. SEVERE RISKS WILL END WEST TO EAST THROUGH THE EVENING
AS A COLD FRONT SWEEPS THROUGH THE REGION. WINDS WILL INITIALLY BE E
THIS MORNING AND VEER SOUTH THROUGH THE AFTN WHILE PICKING UP TO 15
KT WITH HIGHER GUSTS THEN VEER TO W/NW WITH GUSTS TO 20-25 KT BEHIND
THE FRONT.

FOR KGLH/KGWO...A BRIEF CHANGE OVER FROM RAIN TO A RAIN/SNOW MIX AND
THEN TO ALL SNOW IS POSSIBLE 26/02-08Z BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. LIGHT
DUSTING ACCUMULATIONS ON ELEVATED AND GRASSY SURFACES WILL BE
POSSIBLE.

VFR CONDS SHOULD RETURN BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING ACROSS SOUTHERN
AND CENTRAL SITES WITH NRN SITES BRING LAST TO

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
JACKSON       65  35  44  27 / 100  73   3   0
MERIDIAN      65  37  46  25 / 100  95   5   0
VICKSBURG     62  34  43  25 / 100  51   2   0
HATTIESBURG   71  39  51  27 / 100  90   4   0
NATCHEZ       68  35  44  26 / 100  33   2   0
GREENVILLE    52  33  40  26 / 100  95  10   0
GREENWOOD     56  36  41  25 / 100  95  10   0

&&

.JAN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
MS...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR MSZ018-019-025>066-
     072>074.

     WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR
     MSZ018-019-025>027-034>036-040>042-047-053-059-060.

LA...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR LAZ007>009-015-016-
     023>026.

     WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR
     LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026.

AR...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH THIS EVENING FOR ARZ074-075.

     WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM CST WEDNESDAY FOR
     ARZ074-075.

&&

AEG/JA/

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 25, 3:41 PM CST, 28 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Dec 25, 3:37 PM CST, 32 minutes before

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Local storm report, Dec 25, 3:50 PM CST, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
350 PM CST TUE DEC 25 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0316 PM     FLASH FLOOD      4 S JACKSON             32.27N 90.22W
12/25/2012                   HINDS              MS   BROADCAST MEDIA

            REPORTS OF CARS BEING STALLED ON TERRY ROAD NEAR MCDOWELL
            ROAD.

&&
CORRECTED LOCATION

DCOX

Local storm report, Dec 25, 3:56 PM CST, 13 minutes before

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Local storm report, Dec 25, 3:58 PM CST, 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, Dec 25, 4:03 PM CST, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
403 PM CST TUE DEC 25 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0338 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 W MONTICELLO          31.56N 90.16W
12/25/2012                   LAWRENCE           MS   AMATEUR RADIO

            TWO MOBILE HOMES DAMAGED ALONG HIGHWAY 184 WEST OF
            MONTICELLO. POSSIBLE TORNADO.

&&

DCOX

Local storm report, Dec 25, 4:09 PM CST, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
409 PM CST TUE DEC 25 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0342 PM     TORNADO          2 NW MONTICELLO         31.57N 90.13W
12/25/2012                   LAWRENCE           MS   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            *** 2 INJ *** LAWRENCE COUNTY S.O. REPORTS TORNADO MOVED
            THROUGH THE AREA NORTH OF MONTICELLO NEAR U.S. 84 AND MS
            HIGHWAY 27. ONE MOBILE HOME WAS FLIPPED. ADDITIONAL
            STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED IN THE AREA. TWO PEOPLE INJURED.

&&

DCOX

The surface observations

Pine Belt Regional Awos (PIB), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:08 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2012 tornado in Mississippi Every tornado in Mississippi since 1950 Warnings in force in Mississippi now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 25, 2012

32 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
December 25	9:05 AM CST	EF3	Houston, TX	9.7	300		$700,000
December 25	9:40 AM CST	EF0	Houston, TX	0.3	30
December 25	12:15 PM CST	EF0	Vernon Parish, LA	0.2	50		$1,000
December 25	12:43 PM CST	EF0	Vernon Parish, LA	2.2	200		$25,000
December 25	12:45 PM CST	EF2	Rapides Parish, LA	4.6	500	1	$2.0 million
December 25	12:50 PM CST	EF2	Rapides Parish, LA	0.8	200		$2.0 million
December 25	1:19 PM CST	EF1	Catahoula Parish, LA	2.5	300		$75,000
December 25	2:31 PM CST	EF1	Wilkinson, MS	2.8	250	1	$250,000
December 25	3:15 PM CST	EF1	Marengo, AL	4.7	100
December 25	3:20 PM CST	EF3	Pearl River, MS	24.1	175	8	$2.5 million
December 25	3:31 PM CST	EF0	Coffee, AL	0.0	10		$2,000
December 25	3:35 PM CST	EF2	Lawrence, MS	8.4	440	7	$200,000
December 25	3:45 PM CST	EF2	Stone, MS	8.0	100
December 25	3:55 PM CST	EF2	Forrest, MS	28.6	300	4	$200,000
December 25	4:21 PM CST	EF0	Crenshaw, AL	0.2	50
December 25	4:28 PM CST	EF0	Crenshaw, AL	0.1	20
December 25	4:35 PM CST	EF0	Lauderdale, MS	2.3	50		$55,000
December 25	4:45 PM CST	EF2	Choctaw, AL	5.9	880
December 25	4:54 PM CST	EF2	Mobile, AL	5.2	200		$1.4 million
December 25	5:27 PM CST	EF1	Dale, AL	5.4	300
December 25	5:50 PM CST	EF1	Marengo, AL	5.9	500
December 25	5:53 PM CST	EF1	Washington, AL	2.2	110
December 25	6:00 PM CST	EF2	Clarke, AL	24.8	150
December 25	6:05 PM CST	EF0	Coffee, AL	13.9	25		$5,000
December 25	6:20 PM CST	EF0	Jefferson Parish, LA	0.8	25		$10,000
December 25	6:36 PM CST	EF1	Wilcox, AL	5.0	80
December 25	7:22 PM CST	EF1	Mobile, AL	6.7	100
December 25	8:09 PM CST	EF1	Lowndes, AL	2.0	300
December 25	8:26 PM CST	EF0	Lowndes, AL	0.6	75
December 25	8:32 PM CST	EF2	Lowndes, AL	9.6	900
December 25	10:24 PM CST	EF2	Pike, AL	15.7	600	2
December 25	10:29 PM CST	EF1	Montgomery, AL	0.7	100

What this means

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.

Sources

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