EF3 Tornado — Attala, Mississippi

2010-11-29 · near Newport, Attala, Mississippi

Event narrative

The initial damage where the tornado developed was limited to some minor tree damage along Buddy Odom Road. The tornado tracked north northeast and rapidly became strong, with EF2 and low end EF3 damage occurring along the rest of the path. The tornado affected Shiloh and Buddy Odom Roads as well as State Highway 429 in Leake County; and County Roads 4022, 4033, 4126, 4045, 4171, 4142 and State Highway 14 in Attala County. Several mobile homes, including at least two double wides, were completely destroyed at several locations along the path, with debris carried well away from the remains. Impressive tree damage occurred at numerous locations along the path, including a couple of locations where some debarking/denuding was noted. Vehicles were rolled or tossed at several locations. A frame home was pushed off its foundation and a number of frame homes suffered moderate to major roof damage. Numerous power poles were snapped along the path. The widest point of the damage path was around a quarter mile, and was near Highway 14 in Attala County. Maximum winds were around 140 mph. Total path length across Leake and Attala Counties was 10 miles.

Wider weather episode

During the evening hours of November 29th and the overnight/early morning period of the 30th, the region was impacted by an outbreak of tornadoes. This outbreak brought 13 tornadoes to the forecast area. This occurred as potent storm system moved out of the Rockies and developed a strong area of low pressure across the Central Plains. This surface low caused a warm front to take shape and quickly lift northward across the forecast during the afternoon of the 29th. Warm and humid conditions pushed north, which led to unstable conditions over the region just ahead of the advancing strong cold front. The wind energy through the atmosphere was strong. The resulting wind shear (change in wind speed or direction with height) was strong and very favorable for rotating storms and supporting tornadoes. As the clash of systems occurred, a mix of supercell thunderstorms developed, along with a broken line of thunderstorms. A handful of these storms utilized the strong wind shear present and produced tornadoes. Overall, 13 tornadoes occurred with 5 being of the strong variety (EF2-EF3). The strongest tornado occurred over northwest Leake and southern Attala Counties. Here, an EF3 moved along a 10 mile path and destroyed numerous mobile homes, 6 people were injured. Four other strong tornadoes occurred and were all rated EF2. Two of these occurred in Yazoo County, one just southwest of Yazoo City and the other in Downtown Yazoo City. Numerous buildings were damaged along with many trees and power lines down. Another EF2 occurred in Starkville where it destroyed multiple mobile homes in town. Fifteen injuries occurred in this area. The final EF2 occurred in Smith County. This tornado had an 11 mile path which started just SW of Raleigh to 6 miles NE of Raleigh. One brick home sustained significant damage along with numerous other buildings and sheds damaged.

This outbreak broke a streak of 3 years when no tornadoes occurred during the month of November across Mississippi. Additionally, the last Fall outbreak of tornadoes occurred on November 24, 2004. Historically, November marks the peak of our 2nd severe weather season and ranks 3rd as the most active month for tornadoes in Mississippi, just a few behind March.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.9299, -89.7031)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 267317. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.