EF3 Tornado — Choctaw, Mississippi

2008-01-10 · near Weir, Choctaw, Mississippi

Event narrative

The tornado started, just west of Ethel, with a path of tree damage which intensified shortly after the beginning point. In some areas nearly every tree was snapped off or uprooted. The tornado reached its widest point as it crossed the Natchez Trace Parkway, where dozens of trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado caused significant structural damage to several buildings just to the southwest of McCool. One cinder block constructed building sustained nearly total destruction from a combination of a very large hardwood tree falling on it, along with other wind damage. A room addition to the back of a frame home was removed. After the tornado passed McCool, it narrowed and weakened somewhat, with tree damage continuing to occur. The tornado then intensified again as it entered Choctaw County and passed south of the town of Weir. Here a dairy complex was heavily damaged. A well-constructed milking parlor was totally destroyed with all exterior walls collapsed or destroyed. A large 9000 pound trailer was picked up and flipped onto the top of a farm building. Several large wood and metal livestock buildings were totally destroyed. A grain silo was also destroyed. Nearly 300 head of cattle were injured with 10 fatal. After the tornado passed this point, it did not encounter any additional structures, but a path of tree damage continued for several miles before the tornado dissipated near Choctaw Lake. The total path length across Attala and Choctaw counties was 24 miles with a maximum rating of EF3. Maximum winds were around 145 mph.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.2154, -89.3185)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 73314. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.