EF3 Tornado — Scott, Mississippi
2012-10-17 to 2012-10-18 · near Steel, Scott, Mississippi
Event narrative
This tornado began along Old Jackson Road east of Hillsboro. Initially the tornado tracked southeast downing multiple trees as it crossed Harrison Road and MS Highway 21. There were also a few homes with roof damage in this area and outbuildings were damaged by fallen trees. The tornado then began a more easterly course along Greer Road and began to snap and uproot several additional trees as it crossed Ephesus Road, Langsmill Road, and Russell Community Road. Along Russell Community Road multiple trees fell on structures, including one that fell through a home causing an injury. The tornado continued eastward, downing additional trees and caused minor roof damage at a residence on George Road.
As the tornado reached the Lewis Road area, there was a notable increase in the number of hardwood trees that were snapped along the path. Along the northern end of the track, part of the roof of a small barn was removed. Extensive tree damage continued to the Salem Road area, where the tornado reached its peak intensity of around 140 mph. At this location, three large steel transmission towers were bent toward the ground between Salem Road and Jim Owens Road. Along Jim Owens Road, a large shed and a travel trailer were demolished. Farther east the tornado blew a mobile home into the roadway at Conehatta Road. The roof and walls were separated from the undercarriage and the contents of the home were scattered in the area. There were two occupants in the home at the time, and both escaped without significant injury. Along Stroud Road portions of the roof of an outbuilding were removed and a small silo was blown over before the tornado crossed into Newton County.
The tornado crossed Tuscolameta Creek, continuing to uproot and snap several trees as it passed over the southern end of the town of Conehatta. A small shed was demolished along Hoye Pace Road. Additional homes suffered roof damage along Newton-Conehatta Road and Caney Creek Road. One mobile home was shifted off its foundation and an adjacent barn had much of its metal roof removed. An outbuilding was destroyed by a falling tree along Woodrow Ezell Road. Farther east, much of a metal roof was removed from a shed along Pleasant Valley Road and a home sustained roof damage along Braddock Road. Additional tree damage occurred as the tornado tracked eastward nearly paralleling Braddock Road before lifting near Beaver Dam Road.
Wider weather episode
A vigorous, fast-moving, early autumn storm system brought severe weather to portions of the ArkLaMiss region from the evening of October 17th, 2012 into the early morning hours of October 18th. The combination of intense wind shear, strong winds and adequate moisture and instability resulted in severe storms developing along and ahead of a strong cold front as it raced across the forecast area. Numerous reports of wind damage from supercell and bowing-type thunderstorms were received as the storms produced strong straight line winds and tornadoes from the Delta region, southeast into Central Mississippi, and reaching into parts of east central and southeast Mississippi. There were sporadic reports of hail, but with such fierce wind shear over the region, straight line winds and tornadoes were the primary modes of severe weather during this event.
To put some historical perspective on this rare early Fall severe weather event, the EF-3 that occurred across Scott and Newton counties was only the second F3 to occur in the month of October in Mississippi in recorded history. The three strong tornadoes for this event is second all time to the Oct 17, 1980 event where 7 tornadoes occurred (6 of which were strong (F2)). Additionally, there were eleven total tornadoes during this event which ties October 13, 2001 for the most tornadoes during any October event.
View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4374, -89.4521)
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 412029. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.