December 2024 Mississippi Tornado Outbreak

Between December 26th and December 28th, 2024, multiple shortwaves progressed across the ArkLaTex region, generating several rounds of supercell thunderstorms and QLCSs. Multiple large and damaging tornadoes were observed in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and Alabama. The Twister Fisters intercepted these rounds of storms in East Texas and Southern Mississippi, collecting in situ data on a large and damaging tornado near McCall Creek, MS.

At 2044 UTC on December 28th, a single cell had began to dominate over the surrounding cells and exhibited broad supercellular structure in far SW Mississippi. It would quickly become tornado warned as the mesocyclone took shape as seen from the KHDC NEXRAD site. The storm had a NNE motion vector, moving at a moderate pace of around 40 mph. The Fisters team at this time was positioned well ahead of the storm, approximately 30 miles ahead of the mesocyclone on U.S. Highway 84. As the team let the forward flank roll over them, each radar scan showed the mesocyclone shifting further East than anticipated, prompting the team to progress Eastward on 84 with it. Finally, the forward flank had rolled past and the team found themselves in the bear’s cage sampling the inflow of the supercell.

As is usually the case with chasing in Dixie Alley, the highway was lined with tall pine trees marking the edge of the Homochitto National Forest. Visibility was incredibly low, so careful judgement had to be made to position as closely to the location the tornado would cross the highway without compromising the safety of the team and instrumentation.

The Fisters team found a median in the highway at the intersection of U.S Highway 84 and Lucien Road where we could safely stop and view the tornado as it crossed less than a mile to our west. As it crossed the road, we witnessed large debris being lofted, which meant that houses were likely being impacted. Local law enforcement staged in the median with us until the tornado had passed. At that point, the Fisters team along with local and county law enforcement promptly began search and rescue efforts on Lucien Road.

Law enforcement had information that people were trapped in their homes on Lucien Road. One EMT from the Fisters team immediately went to the homes while the other two helped clear trees to get first responders to the scene. It was determined the no one was trapped in any homes on Lucien Road. The damage was significant but there were no injuries reported while we were on scene.

Locals who were not directly impacted began to show up and help remove trees from the roadway. By that time, the Fisters teams and local/county law enforcement determined that there was a liquid propane tank behind one of the homes that was leaking and we began evacuation efforts of everyone in the area. Luckily, no one was injured and there was at least one vehicle that was able shuttle people to a safer location.

After search and rescue efforts had ceased, there were still more storms to gather data from. The Fisters team fueled our vehicles and headed east towards Monticello, MS to wait for another tornado warned supercell. As the storm got closer, we realized that we needed to move back west a few miles due to the storm track being more NNE rather than NE. FST-2 and FST Scout-1 began creeping west due to this tornado occurring after dark and the riad being lined with trees. Our safety is paramount in these chases.

The mesocyclone continued to near our location and we determined that it would cross the road a couple miles to our west, and it would likely be rain wrapped due to the Bounded Weak Echo Region (BWER) visible on radar. We were unable to observe a tornado as it crossed the road but low quality, long exposure images from a phone indicated that a tornado may very well be in progress as a lowering extended to below the tree tops from what we were able to see.

Once this storm crossed the road and continued northward, we decided to start our trek back home with a stop in Meridian, MS for food. The team started back towards Birmingham, AL to drop off one team member, and the others continued north to Huntsville, AL. What we thought was the end of the chase turned out to not be the case. As FST-2 and FST Scout-1 drove northward on I-65, both were nearly impacted by QLCS tornadoes. They both made it home safely and were able to rest well that night.