Tornadoes · United States · Mississippi · 2012

EF0 tornado, Pearl River Co Arpt, Mississippi, December 9, 2012

This EF0 tornado ran 2.5 miles across Pearl River County on December 9, 2012, touching down at 3:50 PM CST and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
December 9, 2012
Touchdown
3:50 PM CST (21:50 UTC)
Lifted
3:55 PM CST (21:55 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
2.5 miles (4.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Pearl River County
Touchdown point
30.762, -89.523
Lift-off point
30.794, -89.504
Record number
1212091550-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado developed along a sea breeze boundary in Pearl River County during the afternoon hours.

A weak tornado touched down a couple of times just south of Poplarville, causing minor property damage. A pool was overturned and minor damage was reported to a mobile home on Dupont Harts Chapel Road. A porch and an outbuilding were damaged at a residence on Highway 53. Path length was approximately 1.5 miles and path width was 20 yards. Maximum winds were estimated at 70 mph.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 air that afternoon

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.

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 12:00Z

9.8 hours before the tornado, 61 km from the path. December 9, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-12-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 104 joules per kilogram, CIN -61, lifted condensation level 541 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-12-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 114 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
104 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-61 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
541 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), 00:00Z

2.2 hours after it, 61 km from the path. December 10, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-12-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 622 joules per kilogram, CIN -3, lifted condensation level 645 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Slidell Radar S, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-12-10The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 188 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
622 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-3 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
645 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Bogalusa (BXA), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:55 UTC75.3866.74200° 8 kt161013.5
20:15 UTC76.2866.2200° 8 kt1013.2-RA
20:35 UTC75.265.3190° 14 kt181013.5
20:55 UTC73.7667.64200° 7 kt1013.5-RA
21:15 UTC74.367.82200° 7 kt1013.2
21:35 UTC74.367.82210° 8 kt1013.5
21:55 UTC74.367.46210° 8 kt1013.2
22:15 UTC73.467200° 9 kt1013.2-DZ
22:35 UTC72.566.74190° 8 kt1013.2
22:55 UTC71.670.88200° 6 kt1013.5
23:15 UTC70.8870.88180° 5 kt1013.2
23:35 UTC7171200° 8 kt1013.2

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

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 S PoplarvillePearl River, MSA POOL WAS OVERTURNED AND THE PUBLIC OBSERVED DEBRIS IN THE AIR AND A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR THE INTERESECTION OF INTERSTATE 12 AND HIGHWAY 53. POSSIBLE WEAK TORNADO.
21:50 UTCTORNADO 05 S PoplarvillePearl River, MSA WEAK TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN A COUPLE OF TIMES JUST SOUTH OF POPLARVILLE CAUSING MINOR PROPERTY DAMAGE. A POOL WAS OVERRTURNED AND MINOR DAMAGE REPORTED TO A MOBILE HOME ON DUPONT HARTS CHAPEL ROAD...AND A PORCH AND OUTBU
22:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se PurvisLamar, MSSHINGLE DAMAGE TO A HOME AND 2 TREES DOWN ON VEHICLES ALONG OLD HWY 11 NEAR I-59
22:15 UTCTORNADO 03 Sse PurvisLamar, MSA BRIEF TORNADO TOUCH DOWN CAUSED SHINGLE DAMAGE AND BROKE A WINDOW ON A HOUSE. SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN...TWO OF WHICH FELL ON VEHICLES. THE DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG OLD HIGHWAY 11 NEAR I-59. MAX WIND SPEED 85 MPH AND

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 9, 2012

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 93:12 PM CSTEF1Ripley, MO0.4150$100,000
December 94:15 PM CSTEF0Lamar, MS0.150$8,000
December 95:20 PM CSTEF0Jones, MS0.150$1,000

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.