January 30, 2013

An EF1 tornado touched down in Monroe County, Mississippi, south of Greenwood Springs (See WFO Memphis Storm Data) and tracked northeastward into Lamar County, Alabama. The EF1 tornado with winds of 90 mph and 300 yards wide entered Alabama near the intersection of Pleasant Hills Rd and State Line Rd, downing trees near the state line. The tornado took a turn to the east, remaining south of US Highway 278. As the tornado crossed Shake Rag Rd and Abernathy Rd, it caused minor roof damage to one home and an outbuilding, and downed many trees. As the tornado turned to the north northeast, it crossed Sulligent Lake Rd and dissipated just west of Glass Rd. Path length in Mississippi was 7.02 miles.

Ahead of a strong cold front, a quasi linear convective system (QLCS) with embedded supercells moved eastward across Mississippi. Ahead of the line of thunderstorms, southerly flow increased, bringing moisture northward and increasing shear. This resulted in increased surface instabilities across much of the area, allowing storms to become surface based. Several tornadoes and widespread thunderstorm wind damage occurred across much of the area. In addition, strong gradient winds ahead of the strengthening system brought down power lines and caused minor structural damage. Heavy rainfall rates caused isolated flash flooding.

Part of 5-tornado outbreak on January 30, 2013