NWS Jackson, MS - March 2, 2012 Severe Weather Event

March 2, 2012 Severe Weather Event

Event Summary

March 2012 came in like a lion as a large severe weather and tornado outbreak occurred on March 2nd. This outbreak covered a large amount of real estate across the Ohio, Tennessee, and Lower Mississippi River Valleys. This event was driven by a powerful storm system which clashed with unusual instability and wind shear for this time of year. This rare combination of ingredients supported numerous tornadoes, many of which were strong, along with hundreds of reports of large hail and wind damage. Unfortunately, roughly three dozen people lost their life in these strong tornadoes, which did include an EF4 across southern Indiana.

Across the NWS Jackson, MS service area, quite a bit of severe weather occurred during the afternoon and evening of March 2nd. Most of the severe storms occurred across areas north of I-20. Large hail was the primary main severe weather culprit as several supercell storms produced golf ball sized hail. There were also a few instances of larger hail, up to the size of baseballs. Other instances of wind damage also occurred from these storms along with two tornadoes. These tornadoes occurred across the far southeastern part of Mississippi, in Jefferson Davis, Lamar and Forrest counties. The tornado that went across Lamar and Forrest counties was on the ground for 12 miles and damaged several homes and downed numerous trees. The Jefferson Davis county tornado was short-lived with produced some damage to a couple of mobiles homes and some trees.

Survey Information - Click on the Location in the Table for additional Maps and Details

Location	Start/ End Time	Event Type	Fatalities/ Injuries	Path Length	Path Width
Lamar and Forrest counties 5.5 ENE Baxterville to 6 S Hattiesburg	6:23 pm - 6:46 pm	EF-1 Tornado 100 mph	0	12 mi	300 yds
Jefferson Davis county 4 NNE of Carson	11:47 pm - 11:49 pm	EF-0 Tornado 85 mph	0	1/4 mi	50 yds

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