NWS Jackson, MS February 24, 2007 Severe Weather

"Early Spring Severe Weather"

Severe Weather of February 24, 2007

The spring of 2007 seems to have started a bit early with the region seeing its first severe weather outbreak. A large and powerful storm system took shape as a deep surface low tracked across Kansas and into portions of Iowa on Feb 24th. This strong area of low pressure was driven by a powerful upper level trough which supported very strong winds through the entire atmosphere. These winds were felt at the surface to some degree as a large area across the Lower Mississippi River Valley saw sustained winds between 25-35 mph with gusts between 40-50 mph. Below are some measured winds across the service area which occured in advance of the severe weather:

Station	ID	Sustained wind (mph)	Peak wind (mph)
Jackon International Airport	JAN	31	43
Key Field - Meridian Airport	MEI	31	40
Vicksburg - Tallulah Regional Airport	TVR	38	44
Greenville Airport	GLH	38	47
Greenwood - Leflore Airport	GWO	41	52
Hattiesburg Chain Municipal	HBG	28	35
Natchez - Adams County Airport	HEZ	31	43
Hawkins Field - Jackson	HKS	36	45

Those gradient winds, in advance of the severe weather, were strong enough to down some trees and power lines across the region. Those damage reports were more scattered in nature.

Those strong winds from the deepening surface low helped to draw northward moisture and instability. The strong winds allowed for the environment to become highly sheared. Basically, there were increasing winds with height and a change in the wind direction as well. This particular combination of instability and high shear was quite rare. However, this set the stage for a severe weather outbreak which included damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes. Below is a regional view of the severe weather reports from Feb 24th.

Select links below to view details about specific storms. Each location will contain damage photos from area storm surveys and radar images matching the event.

Catahoula - Concordia Tornado (EF-2)
Rankin County Tornado (EF-1)
Newton County Tornado (EF-1)
Sunflower County Tornado (EF-1)