Tornadoes Kill Three in Southern U.S.; Significant Tornado Outbreak Today in VA, NC

The deadliest severe weather outbreak thus far in 2016 hit the Deep South on Tuesday, when at least eighteen tornadoes tore across portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Hardest hit was Louisiana, where the town of Convent saw a tornado rip through an RV park, killing two and injuring 31, with seven of those people in critical condition. An additional fatality was reported in a mobile home near Purvis, Mississippi. Major damage occurred late Tuesday morning in Prairieville, southeast of Baton Rouge, where a Gold's Gym and several other buildings nearby were heavily damaged around the time a tornado was reported in the area. Just 18 miles northeast, in Livingston, several homes had their roofs completely torn off. For the second time this month, a tornado caused major damage in Escambia County, located in the far western portion of the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola. A rotating supercell thunderstorm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico moved ashore and spawned a tornado that crossed Interstate 10, flipping several cars and a tractor trailer on the Escambia Bay Bridge, leaving the highway closed from mile marker 17 to mile marker 43. Twenty-four units of The Moorings apartment complex in Pensacola were completely destroyed, and an additional six suffered minor damage, according to Be Ready Escambia, the official disaster readiness website of the county's emergency management agency.


Figure 1. Destroyed trailers and vehicles are all that remain of the Sugar Hill RV Park after a tornado hit Convent, Louisiana on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. The tornado killed two people in the trailer park. In total, 31 people were hospitalized from the trailer park, and seven were in critical condition, officials told the AP. (AP Photo/Max Becherer)


Figure 2. A large waterspout with two smaller satellite waterspouts moved across Louisiana's Lake Ponchartrain on Tuesday afternoon, February 23, 2016. Image credit: Casey Rogers/Facebook. This impressive WWLTV.com video shows the waterspouts in more detail. Thanks go to wunderground member Patrap for posting this link in the blog comments.


Figure 3. Severe weather reports for Tuesday, February 23, 2016, from NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.

Another dangerous severe weather day on Wednesday
The storm system responsible for Tuesday’s severe weather is moving northeast, and severe thunderstorms began firing up on Wednesday morning ahead of the cold front that was sweeping through Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina. Tornado warnings were issued late Wednesday morning in Tampa, Florida, and in southern North Carolina, but the main severe threat will occur late Wednesday afternoon in eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, where a strong mid-level jet stream with winds in excess of 125 mph and plenty of wind shear will provide spinning motion to afternoon thunderstorms that will fire up in the unstable air ahead of the approaching cold front. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center is warning of the possibility of strong EF2 and EF3 tornadoes in this area, along with severe thunderstorms likely to cause straight-line wind damage.


Figure 4. The severe weather outlook for Wednesday, February 24, 2016 from NOAA's Storm Prediction Center calls for another major day of severe weather, with portions of eastern North Carolina and eastern Virginia under a "Moderate Risk" of severe weather.

You can follow today's outbreak on our special Live Blog.

Jeff Masters