Winter Storm — Quitman, Mississippi

2026-01-23 to 2026-01-25 · Quitman, Mississippi

Event narrative

Sleet and snow accumulation of 4 to 6 inches. Less than 1/4 inch of ice accumulated over the southern section of Quitman County.

Wider weather episode

A significant winter weather event impacted the Mid-South from January 23rd through January 25th, 2026, driven by a classic southern-stream cyclone interacting with entrenched Arctic air across the region. A broad, positively tilted trough extending from the Central Plains into the Desert Southwest emerged on January 23rd. Downstream, strong surface high pressure was centered over the Midwest and Ohio Valley, promoting persistent cold air advection into the Lower Mississippi Valley and reinforcing a shallow subfreezing airmass.

Isentropic ascent intensified across the Mid-South beginning late January 23rd, as warm, moist air overran the shallow Arctic dome. This resulted in widespread precipitation developing from southwest to northeast across north Mississippi.

Thermal profiles across north Mississippi were marginal and vertically complex, with a well-pronounced warm nose between roughly 850'750 mb. This supported a mixed precipitation regime with crippling ice accumulations across portions of north Mississippi and large sleet accumulations across the Delta.

The surface low that developed across Alabama was able to warm the surface in counties in closest proximity, resulting in mostly liquid precipitation in a few counties (Itawamba, Monroe, and Chickasaw), and there was even enough elevated instability for convective development. Liquid QPF values averaged over 3 inches, which led to crippling ice accumulations, especially from Oxford through Blue Mountain into Corinth. Widespread tree and scattered property damage occurred along with power outages that lasted several weeks in some locations across northeast Mississippi. Heavy sleet and snow resulted in transportation difficulties for up to two weeks across northwest Mississippi and widespread school cancellations.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1313420. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.