EF1 Tornado — Rankin, Mississippi

2024-12-28 · near Flowood, Rankin, Mississippi

Event narrative

This EF-1 tornado developed just east of Mangum Dr around River Pines Dr and moved northeast across the Refuge where scattered small tree and large limb damage began to consolidate into a more narrow path. The path continued northeastward across Medical Pkwy and Airport Rd where there were focused areas of multiple dead pine trees snapped. Throughout the commercial area around the Dogwood Festival several small trees were damaged and minor damage occurred to structures along Lakeland Dr. It strengthened as it moved northeastward, and downed many trees and large tree limbs, many of which caused substantial structural damage to homes. Additionally, the tornado caused lighter direct damage to roofs and siding along the path. Several neighborhoods between Lakeland Dr and Spillway Rd and along the east end of Spillway Rd were impacted. Scattered damage occurred at athletic fields on the east end of Pelahatchie Bay, then the tornado downed five utility poles as it crossed MS Highway 25 at Pelahatchie Creek. Further east, shingles were removed from several houses in neighborhoods south of Holly Bush Rd, with continued tree damage. It then crossed Clark Stables Rd, Stump Ridge Rd, and MS Hwy 43 before it moved across the Leesburg area. Debris was scattered downwind into a field along Mary Crapps Rd, with considerable tree damage as the tornado moved into northwestern Scott Co near Measels Road. In the area south of Ludlow multiple sheds, outbuildings, and chicken houses sustained damage. Along MS Hwy 483, a manufactured home sustained major roof damage with debris scattered downwind into nearby trees. The tornado continued across the northern portion of the Bienville National Forest and then crossed into southern Leake Co near Lena. A small antenna at the Lena Fire Dept was collapsed, and part of a shed along MS Hwy 500 on the east side of town was blown away. The tornado lifted around the time it crossed Storm Rd east of Lena. The total path length for this tornado was 38.13 miles across the three counties. The maximum wind speeds for this portion of the track were estimated to be 110 mph.

Wider weather episode

On December 28th, an outbreak of severe weather took place. Initially, a few isolated supercells storms developed and produced some tornadoes. As this occurred, a line of storms also developed and eventually pushed eastward across our region. Widespread damaging winds occurred with the line along with numerous tornadoes. This particular convective system was extremely efficient at producing tornadoes. This resulted in a record number of tornadoes for the month of December. The total across our forecast area was 43. The previous December record was 24 back in 2022.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.3182, -90.1046)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223079. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.