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EF2 tornado in Perry County, Mississippi

Tornado December 25, 2012 · Perry County, Mississippi

EF2

Rating

28.6 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

Injuries

$200K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Forrest County → Perry County → Greene County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado entered Perry County crossing the Desoto

National Forest as an EF-1 tornado approximately 100 yards wide.

The tornado increased in strength briefly to EF-2 as it moved across

Highway 29 knocking down electrical transmission lines. The tornado

crossed Lula Cooley road where it destroyed a manufactured home and

hunting camp off Snider Road. The tornado continued northeast as an

EF-1 producing damage to a few homes and widespread damage to trees.

The tornado left Perry County near Mclain. This tornado segment in

Perry County is part of a 61 mile long track tornado that went from

central Pearl River County to western Greene County Mississippi.

The wider storm

A powerful storm system moved out of the plains on

Christmas, producing numerous strong storms across southeast

Mississippi, southwest Alabama, and the western Florida panhandle

out ahead of a strong cold front and accompanying squall line. Multiple

tornadoes, some long track, were observed along the central gulf coast

region. A total of eight tornadoes were observed across the NWS Mobile

county warning area.

Began near Janice (30.9687, -89.1381).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Stone County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 422090. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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