Killer winter tornadoes: No strangers to Mississippi and the South

A nightmare before Christmas arrived in the form of deadly tornadoes across parts of the South on Tuesday.

It appears that Mississippi, where several deaths have been reported, was hardest hit.

Weird to have damaging and deadly tornadoes around the holidays? Or at all during winter for that matter… right? Sort of, but not too weird.

The area of southern Mississippi where at least four likely tornado deaths occurred is part of a zone where December tornadoes are expected more often than other spots across the country during the month.

It’s also not far removed from specific tracks of prior deadly winter tornadoes. Quick note: In all cases here, winter refers to December-February — meteorological winter, and coinciding with the lowest three months of tornado activity on average. 

We of course don’t have to go back far for the last large outbreak in December. The 2012 Christmas tornado outbreak was a record-breaker for the date, though miraculously no one was killed.

There’s even less distance from a winter tornado death. Two fatal events occurred on the 21st of December last year in parts of the Mississippi Valley.

Breaking down fatal wintertime tornadoes by month shows sparse activity overall. It is consistent activity across the record nonetheless.

There have been 63 fatal tornadoes in December. 1957 and 1967 tie for the most with six each.

There have been 57 fatal tornadoes in January. 1999 holds the dubious honor with nine.

There have been 91 fatal tornadoes in February. 12 of them scoured the landscape during 2008, the leader for the month.

Sadly enough, each winter month’s greatest tornado disaster has occurred in Mississippi.

On Dec. 5, 1953 38 people perished in an F5 which hit Vicksburg. On Jan. 23, 1969 a long-track F4 cruised across southern Ms., killing 32. And on Feb. 21, 1971 a super long-track F4 killed 58 across the central part of the state.

Typical winter tornado slumber appears to return ahead once we get past this strong Christmastime storm system. Let’s hope it lasts a while. Tornadoes are always a potential lurking threat, no matter what time of year.