F1 tornado in Marion County, Mississippi

This tornado moved into Marion County from Walthall County. The tornado continued to track east northeast for 6 miles before dissipating. The tornado cross Highway 35 just north of Sandy Hook and downed many trees and several power lines. The tornado continued across the Pearl River and crossed Highway 43 where more trees were downed. Just before the tornado dissipated, a mobile home was damaged and tree limbs were broken off in the Spring Cottage Community.

This tornado began about 2 miles north of the Thomas Community in northern Washington Parish and tracked east northeast across southeast Walthall County and then dissipated in southern Marion County. The total path length was 18 miles with the highest rating occurring in Walthall County which was F2.

An intense fall cyclone developed over the region and produced an episode of severe weather which included tornadoes. This strong weather system developed as a very strong jet stream, with winds between 160-200 mph, slammed into Oregon and Washington State. All that energy moved over the Rocky Mountains and caused a strong area of surface low pressure to develop. This low intensified as it moved east across the Red River Valley and then lifted across Arkansas and into Tennessee as it deepened to 990 mb! The strength of this deepening low caused warm and unstable air to lift northward across Louisiana and into central Mississippi. It was this northward moving warm front that became the focus of an area where tornadic supercell thunderstorms could thrive in an unstable and highly sheared environment.

This large and powerful storm system produced numerous tornadoes across the south and south eastern United States where many were of the strong (F2 or F3) variety. Within the Jackson, MS forecast area, there were a total of 5 tornadoes to impact the counties serviced. Two F3s, one in Lamar County and the other in Jones County. The Jones County tornado actually contained a satellite tornado, F1, which briefly rotated around the parent tornado. Next was an F1 tornado in southern Marion County which was actually the end of a strong tornado that moved out of Walthall County. Lastly, a brief F1 tornado occurred in central Lamar County. Tornadoes were not the only type of severe weather, scattered wind damage also occurred across northeast Louisiana and portions of central Mississippi between midnight and 10 am Wednesday November 15th 2006.