EF1 tornado in Claiborne County, Mississippi

This tornado occurred in a very rural area with tree damage the only observed damage. Where the tornado crossed Hunt Road, tree damage was significant, with hundreds of trees snapped and uprooted along with several power lines down.

The second week of January 2008 was quite active with respect to severe weather. Two events impacted the region in a span of 3 days which produced several tornadoes, large hail and wind damage across the area.

On January 10th a vigorous storm system developed over the southern portions of the Midwest and moved northeast towards the Ohio valley. A strong cold front swept across the area during the late morning into the afternoon hours and strong to severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of it. All of the ingredients for tornadic development came into place as warm Gulf moisture pushed northward into the area out ahead of the front. The thunderstorms developed in eastern Louisiana and quickly moved across central Mississippi during the late morning and afternoon hours. As the storms progressed eastward, good instability combined with very strong wind shear for supercell development east of the Mississippi River, with the storms reaching maximum intensity along and east of the interstate 55 corridor.

By far, the most damage was produced by a single supercell thunderstorm that moved from north of Vicksburg through north central and northeast Mississippi during the late morning and early afternoon hours. This single storm produced three strong tornadoes, all of which were rated as EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita tornado damage scale. The most significant damage occurred in Caledonia in Lowndes County, where a school gymnasium was destroyed along with a number of school buses and vehicles in the area.

A second supercell that organized near the Mississippi River in southwest Mississippi before midday tracked from Claiborne County, through the northern Jackson Metropolitan Area, and finally into Noxubee county in northeast Mississippi by mid afternoon. This storm was responsible for 5 different tornado touchdowns along its path, as well as many reports of high winds and hail.

The rest of the area saw a broken line of storms and other supercells ahead of the line. A mix of damaging winds and hail were reported through the rest of the afternoon before the system exited the area.