EF2 tornado in Lowndes County, Mississippi

An EF-2 tornado touched down just northwest of the city Steens along Jess Lyons Road on the north side of the Green Oaks Golf Course. Several softwood trees were uprooted at the start. The tornado continued east and northeast across mostly wooded areas and produced intermittent tree and vegetation damage. The steeple on Mt. Zion Church near the intersection of Wolfe Road and Neilson Road was blown over. The tornado quickly widened and intensified as it moved east of Wolfe Road, and an approximately 150 yard wide by 1.8 mile long swath of downed trees was observed on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery before the tornado reached Calendonia Steens Road. Several homes had broken windows, trees were snapped, and roofs were damaged near at Caledonia Steens Rd. As the tornado crossed Mississippi Highway 12, it attained its peak intensity of 132 mph. A house along Hwy 12 had many of its exterior walls collapsed. The fire house for Lowndes County Fire Department District One Station Two was severely damaged as well. The doors were blown in, the roof was blown off, and several panels were blown out or damaged. Trees were also snapped and uprooted along Hwy 12 and Jerry Reynolds Road, and then the tornado continued east across Vaughn Roberts Road where softwood trees were blown. The tornado dissipated before reaching the Alabama state border. A tornadic debris signature was observed on radar with this tornado. The estimated peak wind speed was 132 mph.

As a low pressure system moved from the High Plains toward the Great Lakes on November 29th, a warm front lifted north from the Gulf Coast. Strong wind shear interacted with the increasingly unstable environment across Mississippi, and widespread strong to severe thunderstorms developed through the day and into the evening. This severe weather episode was marked by many supercell thunderstorms which were observed on radar and by storm chasers in the region. Large hail fell mainly in areas through the Delta Region, but damaging wind gusts and tornadoes were common through much of the central and southern portions of the state. The strongest tornadoes were rated EF-2.