EF1 Tornado — Oktibbeha, Mississippi

2011-01-01 · near Starkville Bryan Arp, Oktibbeha, Mississippi

Event narrative

The tornado began near the south side of the Starkville Airport. As the tornado moved along Miley and Industrial Park Roads, it downed several trees, peeled back the roof and blew in the overhead door on a metal commercial building, and pushed over a semi-trailer. The tornado then crossed the Starkville Sportsplex, blowing over a number of soccer goals and dugouts, and damaging some fencing. The tornado then moved across a couple of apartment complexes along Lynn Lane, where it did its most intense damage. It removed the entire roofing structure of one apartment building, and blew the facade off another building. A number of apartment buildings suffered shingle or fascia damage. After causing this damage, the tornado moved across Louisville Road near the intersection with Academy Road. It blew off part of the roof of a carwash near this intersection, and also caused minor roof and gutter damage to a church. The tornado moved along Academy Road, downing some powerlines and causing some minor roof damage before dissipating. The Starkville ASOS had a wind gust of 52 mph. Maximum winds in the tornado were estimated at 95 mph.

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system brought a prolonged outbreak of severe thunderstorms to the Lower Mississippi Valley region from the afternoon hours of New Years Eve lasting through the morning hours of New Years Day. This rare combination of high instability and wind shear is mainly what supported the large outbreak that included multiple strong tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams found 11 total tornadoes that occurred during this event. Of the 11, two were EF-3 and two were EF-2. Six were EF-1 with one EF-0. Damaging straight line winds also brought down numerous trees and large limbs across the area. Large hail also occurred during the event with reports ranging from quarter to golf ball size. In addition, flash flooding was a significant issue across the area. Roads were flooded in several locations, some vehicles were submerged in flood waters, and a few evacuations took place as a result of rising flood waters.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.4386, -88.8419)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 272701. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.