NWS Completes Storm Damage Surveys from
January 10th Storms
Jackson, MS (1/15/08) – Teams of National Weather Service meteorologists, with assistance from state and local emergency management officials, have been working since last Thursday’s damaging severe storms to record and analyze storm damage across the area. After surveying the tracks of several severe storms across the area, the NWS has determined that eight tornadoes were produced across the central third of Mississippi by those storms.
By far, the most damage was produced by a single “supercell†thunderstorm that moved from north of Vicksburg through north central and northeast Mississippi during the late morning and early afternoon hours. This single storm produced three strong tornadoes, all of which were rated as EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita tornado damage scale. The most significant damage occurred in Caledonia in Lowndes County, where a school gymnasium was destroyed along with a number of school buses and vehicles in the area. Even though the school complex had 1900 people in it at the time of the tornado, only three minor injuries were reported at that location. A tornado warning was issued for this area by the NWS in Jackson about 39 minutes before the tornado developed to the southwest of Caledonia, and approximately 41 minutes before the damage occurred at the school in Caledonia.
The longest track tornado from this event occurred in eastern Attala and Choctaw counties. A tornado tracked for 24 miles from just west of the Ethel community in Attala County to about two miles south of Ackerman in Choctaw County. This was the tornado responsible for heavy damage to a dairy complex south of the Weir community. This is the longest track for a tornado in the central Mississippi region since the tornado outbreak of November 24, 2001.
While significant tornadoes in January are not common in our region, they are also not rare. Several tornado events have occurred historically in January: some of the most significant over the last forty years include:
January 21-22, 1999: Nearly 20 tornadoes occurred across Mississippi, including a strong tornado in Sunflower County.
January 19, 1988: A violent tornado (F4) carved out a 26 mile long path over northeast Attala County.
January 10, 1975: A deadly violent tornado killed 10 people while moving 60 miles across south Mississippi. Strong tornadoes also occurred on this day in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties.
January 28, 1974: Five strong tornadoes occurred across central Mississippi, one carving a 32 mile long path across Hinds County.
January 23, 1969: One of the strongest and deadliest tornadoes in Mississippi history killed 32 people and injured 241 as it tore a path across Jefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Rankin, Smith, Scott and Newton counties. The tornado was on the ground for 67 miles.
The tornadoes from January 10th, 2008 were:
Time Counties Effected Length (mi) Width (yd) Rating/ Max Wind
1125 am Claiborne 4 250 EF1/105 mph
1151 am Holmes, Attala 10 1320 EF3/140 mph
1228 pm Attala, Choctaw 24 880 EF3/145 mph
1239 pm Rankin 1.5 40 EF0/75 mph
141 pm Neshoba 1.75 75 EF0/75 mph
207 pm Lowndes 9 (In MS) 400 EF3/155 mph
258 pm Noxubee 1.5 75 EF1/100 mph
302 pm Noxubee 1 40 EF0/70 mph
The Enhanced Fujita scale is:
EF0 65 – 85 mph
EF1 86 – 110 mph
EF2 111 – 135 mph
EF3 136 – 165 mph
EF4 166 – 200 mph
EF5 > 200 mph
For more information on this tornado outbreak and the latest up-to-date weather information, please visit the NWS Jackson website at www.srh.noaa.gov/jan.
