Jackson, Mississippi

Weather Forecast Office

January 2, 2017 Tornado Outbreak Info

January 2, 2017 Severe Weather and Tornadoes

Event Summary

As a surface high stayed situated along the mid-Atlantic, the region had a warm front draped across northeast Louisiana into north-central Mississippi. A fast moving upper level disturbance in the southern Plains helped a storm system develop early Monday January 2nd, 2017. Heavy rain from storms early in the morning, some 2+ inches, helped to reinforce the stalled warm frontal boundary, mainly just along and north of I-20 corridor. As the disturbance closed in to the area early-mid morning, a strong surface low and fast moving cold front helped a strong bowing squall line to develop across central Louisiana. This began to race eastward and moved into the region around to just before noon. Just along and south of the warm frontal boundary, sufficient low level moisture and strong wind shear set the stage for the squall line to continue to intensify and maintain intensity as it raced across the ArkLaMiss. By mid-afternoon, around 4PM, this squall line and any prefrontal storms that began to develop across southern Mississippi had mostly moved through the region. The cold front and drier air finally moved through the entire region late evening to near midnight on Tuesday January 3rd, 2017.

The squall line brought widespread damaging winds across most areas south of the Interstate 20 corridor. A total of 8 tornadoes developed along the leading edge of the squall line, all of them occurring south of Interstate 20. 2 EF0s, 5 EF1s and 1 EF2 tornado, a strong tornado, developed across the area. These tornadoes caused widespread damage to trees and powerlines across the area. The EF1 tornado in Lincoln County caused damage to the historic Sweetwater Methodist Church, which was pushed off its foundation and moderate wall damage occurred. Some more structures, including some homes, mobile homes, sheds and chicken houses, sustained more damage in these tornadoes. The most intense damage occurred south of Mount Olive in Covington County. In this area, a strong tornado crossed Highway 49, where the EF2 tornado destroyed a few large chicken houses and received extensive damage. Thankfully, no injuries or fatalities occurred from to the squall line and associated tornadoes that developed along the line.

01/02/17 Tornado Event Track Map

Click on map above to see entire event tracks and damage point notation.

Click on the location in the table for additional maps and details below.

Location	Start/ End Time	Event Type	Fatalities/ Injuries	Path Length	Path Width
Jefferson County 7 ENE McNair to 5 SSW Blue Hill	1:02 PM- 1:05 PM	EF-0 Tornado 85 mph	none	4.0 miles	250 yards
Claiborne County 1 WSW Peyton to 4 ENE Peyton	1:14 PM- 1:20 PM	EF-1 Tornado 95 mph	none	5.6 miles	200 yards
Lincoln/Copiah County 3 ENE Caseyville, Lincoln Co. to 11 SW Hazlehurst, Copiah Co.	1:21 PM- 1:28 PM	EF-1 Tornado 105 mph	none	6.8 miles	300 yards
Simpson County 1 WNW Pinola to 2 ESE Mendenhall	2:02 PM- 2:12 PM	EF-1 Tornado 110 mph	none	9.5 miles	400 yards
Covington County 2 S Mount Olive to 4 E Mount Olive	2:21 PM- 2:26 PM	EF-2 Tornado 115 mph	none	4.2 miles	300 yards
Smith/Jasper County 4 W Stringer, Smith Co. to Stringer, Jasper Co.	2:43 PM- 2:47 PM	EF-1 Tornado 105 mph	none	3.9 miles	275 yards
Lamar/Forrest County 3 WSW Purvis, Lamar Co. to 3 N Rock Hill, Forrest Co.	2:52 PM- 2:59 PM	EF-1 Tornado 105 mph	none	8.4 miles	225 yards
Lauderdale County 6 N Enterprise to 7 S Nellieburg	3:28 PM- 3:29 PM	EF-0 Tornado 75 mph	none	1.5 miles	75 yards

Central Jefferson EF-0 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Track Summary
This tornado touched down along Perth Road and tracked northeast across Highway 28 in central Jefferson County. Damage was only to trees with many limbs broken and a couple dozen snapped or uprooted trees. After crossing Highway 28, the tornado mainly tracked just to the south of Old 20 Road for a couple of miles before dissipating.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-0
Estimated Maximum Wind:	85 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	4.0 miles
Maximum Path Width:	250 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	7 ENE McNair 1:02 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	5 SSW Blue Hill 1:05 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm at 12:59 pm as the storm passed near Harriston. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Southeast Claiborne County EF-1 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Track Summary
This tornado started on Moss Down Lane and tracked northeast for over 5 miles. The heaviest damage was where it crossed Highway 547. Here many trees were snapped and uprooted along with powerlines down and damage to a few sheds. The remainder of the path consisted of damage to trees.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind:	95 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	5.6 miles
Maximum Path Width:	200 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	1 WSW Peyton 1:14 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	4 ENE Peyton 1:20 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm at 1:14 pm as the tornado touched down near Peyton. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Lincoln/Copiah County EF-1 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This tornado touched down southwest of Norton Assink Road in northwest Lincoln County and tracked northeast into southern Copiah County. The heaviest damage was along Jackson-Liberty Road, Old Red Star Road and Shady Grove Lane. Heavy tree damage occurred at this location. Historic Sweetwater Methodist Church was damaged where it was pushed off its foundation. Moderate wall damage occurred due to this happening. Further northeast along the path, several sheds were damaged and some minor roof damage was noted to a few homes. The tornado crossed Sylvarena Road where more trees were downed and a mobile home had the roof blown off along Brownswell Road. The tornado dissipated just to the northeast of there.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind:	105 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	6.8 miles
Maximum Path Width:	300 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	3 ENE Caseyville, Lincoln County 1:21 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	11 SW Hazlehurst, Copiah County 1:28 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm at 1:22 pm as the tornado crossed the county line. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Simpson County EF-1 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This tornado started just west of Pinola and crossed Highway 28 as it tracked northeast for roughly 10 miles. The heaviest damage was along Highway 43 and Highway 13 where substantial tree damage occurred with many trees snapped and uprooted. Several homes sustained roof damage or damage due to trees on the structure. Four large sheds were heavily damaged. A chicken farm had 4 houses with moderate damage to mainly the roofs. The tornado passed just on the south side of Mendenhall and crossed Highway 49. Here more trees were damaged along with two structures sustaining roof damage. The tornado dissipated just after crossing Highway 49.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind:	110 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	9.5 miles
Maximum Path Width:	400 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	1 WNW Pinola 2:02 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	2 ESE Mendenhall 2:12 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm at 2:07 pm as the tornado occurred near Highway 43. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Covington County EF-2 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This tornado touched down about a mile west of Highway 49, near Rock Hill Road, and tracked quickly northeast doing a variety of tree and structural damage along its relatively short path length. A few structures received heavy damage near the crossing point of Highway 49 with a few large chicken coops being destroyed or receiving extensive damage about a mile east of Highway 49. The tornado then continued on for a few more miles doing lesser amounts of damage to a few structures before lifting just after crossing County Road 532.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-2
Estimated Maximum Wind:	115 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	4.2 miles
Maximum Path Width:	300 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	2 S Mount Olive 2:21 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	4 E Mount Olive 2:26 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm around 2:21 pm as the tornado touched down near Mt. Olive in northern Covington County. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Smith/Jasper County EF-1 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This tornado touched down near County Road 33B and continued to the east before crossing County Road 5 and County Road 713, where many large trees were snapped and downed and some minor roof damage occurred to some homes along the path. The tornado continued to the east-northeast along County Road 10, snapping and downing more trees. The tornado finally lifted near Highway 15.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind:	105 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	3.9 miles
Maximum Path Width:	275 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	4 W Stringer, Smith County 2:43 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	Stringer, Jasper County 2:47 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm around 2:43 pm as the tornado occurred near Stringer in southeast Smith County. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Southeast Lamar/West Forrest County EF-1 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This tornado touched down near Highway 11, about 2 miles south of Downton Purvis and around a mile west of Interstate 59. The tornado tracked quickly east/northeast across the interstate before dissipating after going about 1.5 miles into western Forrest County. Along its track, the tornado did mostly minor to moderate tree damage, although a few structures did receive modest damage inside Lamar County.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-1
Estimated Maximum Wind:	105 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	5.6 miles
Maximum Path Width:	150 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	2 S Purvis, Lamar County 2:53 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	3 N Rock Hill, Forrest County 2:59 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Slidell, LA Doppler radar show the storm at 2:56 pm as the tornado occurred near Purvis. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Lauderdale County EF-0 Tornado

Click on map above to see entire damage point notation and damage pictures at select points.

Event Summary
This brief tornado touched down along Meehan-Savoy Road and tracked north-northeast as it paralleled I-59. A handful of trees were snapped or had large limbs broken off. The majority of the tree damage was blown toward the west as the storm motion was to the north-northeast.

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-0
Estimated Maximum Wind:	75 mph
Fatalities/Injuries:	none
Damage Path Length:	1.5 miles
Maximum Path Width:	75 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	6 N Enterprise 3:28 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	7 S Nellieburg 3:29 pm

Radar Imagery
These images from the Brandon, MS Doppler radar show the storm at 3:28 pm as the tornado occurred southwest of Meridian. The image on the left shows 0.5° base reflectivity data, and the image on the right shows 0.5° storm relative velocity data. Click on the thumbnail below for a higher resolution image.

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Local Storm Reports
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