EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Mississippi

This tornado started just north-northwest of the town of Silver Creek off of Stephens Cemetery Road and then crossed Highway 43. A barn and shed were initially damaged along with some downed trees. Damage to trees increased along Highway 43 with several snapped. The tornado then moved into the Silver Creek bottom then crossed Daughdrill Road. where more trees were snapped/uprooted along with downed power lines. One home had minor roof damage with a group of 3 chicken houses damaged, and one house destroyed. The tornado then crossed into Jefferson Davis County and intensified. As it crossed Spring Hill Church Road, trees and power lines were down. One home on blocks was destroyed. An area of woods adjacent to the home sustained significant tree damage where all the trees were snapped in a focused corridor from what appears to be an intense vortex. An EF2 rating was given here. The tornado then crossed Zion Hill Church Road, although the tornado weakened a bit at this point, it still snapped and uprooted numerous trees. The tornado then moved along Gholar Road. In this location, the tornado transitioned and took a hard right. While doing so, another intense vortex occurred within otherwise standard EF0, EF1 tree damage. The noted vortex destroyed a mobile home and threw a Nissan truck about 30 yds; one injury occurred here as the person was in the mobile home and was thrown out of it. Shortly after the hard right deviation, another intense vortex developed and more extensive tree damage occurred just east of Sophia Sutton Road. As the tornado crossed Highway 42, it reached peak intensity with winds around 130 mph. Here a large cinder block store was demolished and a well built brick home had the roof removed. Multiple power poles were broken along with numerous trees snapped/uprooted. The tornado continued east-northeast generally along portions of Double Ponds Road. Here more trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado crossed Highway 13 and then dissipated at Sugar Ridge Road but not before snapping a few tree limbs. Maximum winds were 105 mph in Lawrence County and 130 mph winds in the entire path. Total path length was 10.92 miles.

A well defined, positively-tilted trough existed across the Southern Plains and at the surface, a cold front was progressing across Arkansas and Louisiana, while an intensifying area of low pressure propagated northeast along the boundary. Discrete supercells developed in the morning on December 16 and moved northeast, spawning multiple strong tornadoes over northeast Louisiana and south Mississippi. These storms produced a total of 10 tornadoes.