NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge -- Christmas Day 2012 Severe Weather

Monitoring Tsunami Impacts Across the Pacific; Air Quality Concerns; Dangerous Heat; Critical Fire Weather for the West

Tsunami impacts continue for portions of the Pacific basin. Wildfire smoke causes unhealthy air in Midwest to Great Lakes. Heat dome spans Mississippi Valley to Mid-Atlantic with excessive heat warnings and advisories. Critical fire weather in Great Basin to Pacific Northwest (dry thunderstorms). Cold front spawns severe storms/heavy rain in Central U.S. today, shifts to East Coast Thursday. Read More >

Severe Weather Event
Christmas Day 2012

A complex weather system involving a warm front lifting from the Gulf, a strong cold front moving west to east through the area and a developing low pressure system impacted the area on Christmas Day (December 25, 2012). Numerous showers and thunderstorms developed in response to the warm front and then a squall line eventually moved through, producing numerous reports of thunderstorm wind damage and a few tornadoes. For the second time in December, our area was hit by three tornadoes. While tornadoes are not common in our area in December, they are also very much a possibility. For more information on December tornadoes in our area, please visit our December Tornado Information Page.

NWS survey teams from WFO New Orleans/Baton Rouge found that three tornadoes touched down in the area. In addition, some straight line winds also caused damage in East Baton Rouge Parish. Individual web pages explaining each event along with survey information is located at the bottom of this page.

Here is a link to the Local Storm Report Summary which was captured after the event.

Survey Information

Location

Start/
End Time

Event Type/
Max Winds

Fatalities/
Injuries

Path Length

Path Width

Pearl River County
2.75 miles SW of McNeil, MS to 12 miles E of Poplarville, MS

Tuesday 12/25
3:10 PM - 3:45 PM CST

EF-3 Tornado
140 mph

0 fatalities
8 injuries

24 miles (in our warning area)

175 yards

Wilkinson and Amite Counties
1 mile S of Centreville, MS to 2.7 miles E of Centreville, MS

Tuesday 12/25
2:31 PM - 2:38 PM CST

EF-1 Tornado
105 mph

0 fatalities
1 injury

3 miles

250 yards

Jefferson Parish
1.9 miles S of Marrero, LA to 1.6 miles SSE of Marrero, LA

Tuesday 12/25
6:20 PM - 6:21 PM CST

EF-0 Tornado
85 mph

None

0.8 miles

30
yards

Monitoring Tsunami Impacts Across the Pacific; Air Quality Concerns; Dangerous Heat; Critical Fire Weather for the West

NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge -- Christmas Day 2012 Severe Weather

Severe Weather Event Christmas Day 2012

Severe Weather Event
Christmas Day 2012