EF1 tornado in Kemper County, Mississippi

This tornado touched down 13 miles southwest of De Kalb and produced a path of damage for 11 miles. Along the path, a roof was blown off a wood frame house and several other homes had minor shingle damage. Numerous outbuildings were either severely damaged or destroyed. Numerous hardwood and softwood trees were snapped and uprooted along the path of the storm. Maximum winds were around 105 mph.

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.