EF2 tornado in Jones County, Mississippi

This tornado started along Maxey Rd and tracked northeast for a little over 5 miles. Initially the damage was light with only a tree or two snapped and large limbs broken. As the tornado crossed State Highway 28, the width of the tornado increased as well as the intensity. Here, several large pine trees were uprooted and snapped along with a few portions of wooden fence torn down. Along Gardner Rd, more trees were damaged along with some minor roof damage to some homes. A large barn had most of the roof removed with the tin scattered along the path. Similar tree damage occurred as the tornado crossed Hines Rd, Tim Holifield Rd and Service Rd. The tornado reached peak intensity as it crossed Mullican Rd. Here three homes sustained moderate roof damage with dozens of trees snapped/uprooted. A mobile home at this location was totally destroyed and unrecognizable with the undercarriage thrown a considerable distance. Two fatalities occurred in the mobile home. Next to the mobile home was a small wood frame home on a slab. This structure was removed off the foundation. A large wooden storage shed was totally destroyed as well at this location. Peak winds here were at 125 mph. From this point, the tornado narrowed and weakened as it moved northeast and tracked across Bush Dairy Rd and then State Highway 15 where it eventually lifted.

During the afternoon of Dec 23, just enough ingredients came together to support numerous severe storms ahead of a cold front. Across the Lower Mississippi River Valley, peak heating contributed to decent instability in the developing warm sector in advance of the front. Sufficient low level wind shear and strong winds aloft were also in place as a decent upper low was located to our north. This helped to support organized thunderstorm activity along with quite a few supercell storms.

A long lived, persistent, storm tracked across the southeastern counties (near Columbia, Mississippi to Sumrall and Laurel to Heidelberg, Mississippi line) and produced multiple tornadoes. Widespread damage occurred in southern Columbia and near Laurel. Additional damage occurred across Marion, Jones and Clarke counties. Sadly, five confirmed fatalities occurred, with three near Columbia in Marion County and two near Laurel in Jones County. Severe storms moved out of the region by late afternoon to early Tuesday evening. The front continued to track through the area through the evening of December 23.