Summary of tornado damage from selected Mississippi storms on 11/29/10

Tornadoes struck portions of Mississippi late Monday evening as a potent weather system moved through the region. Thankfully, the severe weather stayed south of the Memphis metropolitan area, however other folks weren't so lucky. The image above shows the warnings issued as the storm system moved through.

Below are storm survey results conducted by the NWS on storms in Monroe County, MS (in the Memphis NWS service area) and Oktibbeha County, home to Starkville and Mississippi State University.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
208 PM CST TUE NOV 30 2010

...PRELIMINARY EF-2 TORNADO IN MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI...

* COUNTY/COUNTIES: MONROE.

* LOCATION OF EVENT: 8 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF AMORY.

* TIME OF EVENT: APPROXIMATELY 1152 PM CST ON NOVEMBER 29 2010.

* BEGINNING POINT: LATITUDE: 33 DEG...52 MIN...36.0 SEC.
LONGITUDE: 88 DEG...27 MIN...45.9 SEC.

* RATING: EF-2.

* ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: APPROXIMATELY 115 MPH.

* PATH LENGTH: 500 YARDS.

* MAXIMUM WIDTH: 125 YARDS.

* FATALITIES: NONE AT THIS TIME.

* INJURIES: 11.

* SUMMARY OF DAMAGES: APPROXIMATELY 20 MANUFACTURED HOMES DAMAGED OR DESTROYED... TREES SNAPPED AND POWER LINES DOWN.

$$

---

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
1230 PM CST TUE NOV 30 2010

COUNTY/COUNTIES: OKTIBBEHA

BEGINNING POINT: 1.5 MILES SW STARKVILLE AT 1108 PM CST

ENDING POINT: STARKVILLE AT 1109 PM CST

RATING: EF2, MAX ESTIMATED WINDS 115 MPH

PATH LENGTH: 1.5 MILES

MAXIMUM WIDTH: 200 YARDS

FATALITIES: 0

INJURIES: SOME MINOR INJURIES

SUMMARY OF DAMAGE: INITIAL DAMAGE WAS ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE TO A CHURCH ALONG LYNN LANE. THE TORNADO MOVED NORTHEAST THROUGH AN AREA OF APARTMENT BUILDINGS, CAUSING MINOR TO MODERATE ROOF DAMAGE TO A NUMBER OF BUILDINGS, AS WELL AS DOWNING SEVERAL TREES. THE TORNADO THEN MOVED INTO THE PINES TRAILER PARK, WHERE IT DESTROYED A NUMBER OF MOBILE HOMES. TWO LARGE MOBILE HOMES WERE ROLLED AND DESTROYED, AND SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES WERE MOVED A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE AND DESTROYED. NUMEROUS LARGE PINE TREES WERE SNAPPED NEAR THE BASE, WITH SEVERAL LANDING ON MOBILE HOMES CAUSING MAJOR DAMAGE. NUMEROUS UTILITY LINES WERE SNAPPED AND DOWNED, AND A COUPLE OF POLES WERE DOWNED. THIS WAS THE LOCATION OF MAXIMUM DAMAGE. THE TORNADO THEN MOVED NORTHEAST ACROSS LOUISVILLE ROAD, CAUSING ROOF DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES AND CONTINUING TO SNAP TREES. IT MOVED THROUGH ANOTHER TRAILER PARK, BLOWING OUT THE SKIRTING ON SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES AND CAUSING MINOR ROOF AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO A COUPLE. AS THE TORNADO PASSED THROUGH THE EAST SIDE OF THE STARKVILLE HIGH SCHOOL COMPLEX, IT TWISTED SOME LIGHT STANDARDS ON THE ATHLETIC FIELDS AND CAUSED SOME MINOR FENCE DAMAGE. IT THEN CROSSED YELLOW JACKET DRIVE, BLOWING OUT A PORCH ON A RESTAURANT AND CAUSING SOME MINOR ROOF DAMAGE. AS IT CROSSED HIGHWAY 12, IT BLEW DOWN A COUPLE OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS, BLEW OUT A BUSINESS SIGN, AND DAMAGED ANOTHER PORCH ON A RESTAURANT. THE TORNADO SNAPPED A FEW TREES AND CAUSED SOME SHINGLE DAMAGE TO A COUPLE OF HOMES ON SOUTH MONTGOMERY STREET, AND THEN APPEARS TO HAVE DISSIPATED. THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF2 BASED ON THE SMALL AREA OF THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE IN THE PINES TRAILER PARK; THE REMAINDER OF THE DAMAGE WAS GENERALLY EF1 IN NATURE.

In addition, while the survey results are not available yet as of this writing, Accuweather blogger Jesse Ferrell took a look at the preliminary information on an EF-2 tornado that struck Yazoo City, MS last night, along nearly the same track as the EF-4 Yazoo City tornado in April. Here's the post.

----

Get the latest weather conditions and much more by checking out MemphisWeather.net on Facebook and Twitter!

Update on severe weather and flooding risk for today

A strong frontal system is poised to move through the region this evening. Atmospheric conditions are coming together to create the potential for severe weather over the Lower Mississippi River Valley into parts of the Tennessee Valley, including a portion of the Mid-South. In addition, the risk for flooding in low-lying and urban areas remains as well.

The map above shows the SLIGHT RISK area that the Storm Prediction Center will be closely monitoring today. Storms are expected to increase in intensity by mid-afternoon along the western portion of the slight risk area and move slowly east overnight. As you can see, the Memphis area is now encompassed within the slight risk. The most likely time for severe weather in the metro area will be between 4-10 pm with the main risks being damaging thunderstorm wind and isolated tornadoes.

The second map (above) highlights the tornado risk area for today and tonight. As low pressure develops and moves northeast through Arkansas, areas ahead of the low (in the "warm sector"), mainly SE AR, NW LA, and MS, will be at the most risk of seeing tornadoes. The risk extends north into the metro area though as well, just not as high of a threat. The areas within the hatched blue circle have the greatest threat of significant tornadoes.

Finally, this weather system will be quite the rain-maker as well. The last map above shows the expected 12-hour rainfall totals from noon today until midnight tonight. Most of the area should see anywhere from 1-2" of rain, while isolated areas could see higher amounts. This is the reason for the Flash Flood Watch that is in effect, which could be exacerabted by the heavy rain we received last week.

MemphisWeather.net will have full coverage of this developing weather scenario on the web, Twitter (@memphisweather1), and Facebook (MemphisWeather.net). You can also receive severe weather alerts via Twitter for Shelby County by following @shelbyalerts or sign up to receive alerts by e-mail for any metro county as they are issued from the National Weather Service.