Storm reports for January 20, 2017

Name: NOAA storm reports, United States, January 20, 2017
Creator: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center

NOAA recorded 24 hail reports, 18 wind reports and 4 tornado reports in 5 states on January 20, 2017.

in 5 states; 46
Storm reports: About 5 miles from Pearland, TX; 1.75 in
Largest hail: About 40 miles from Riverside, CA; 70 mph
Highest gust: Highest rating EF3, about 58 miles from Gulfport, MS; 4
Tornado reports

Hail, inches

0.75
1
1.5
2
2.5
3+

Dots: reports.

Wind report
Tornado and its path
Surveyed tornado path

Sources: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center reports; damage surveys from the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit

Hail, inches

0.75
1
1.5
2
2.5
3+

Dots: reports.

Wind report
Tornado and its path
Surveyed tornado path

Source: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, final severe weather database (from NOAA's Storm Data). Report day: 12:00 UTC on January 20, 2017 to 12:00 UTC the next day. Times are Central.

Select a dot or a path for the report. NWS survey teams walked the shaded paths after the storm; each is drawn at the widest width they found, so it can look wider than the damage at any one spot.

What happened

Before dawn on January 21, 2017, an EF3 tornado crossed Lamar and Forrest counties in Mississippi, starting about 3:35 a.m. CST and striking Hattiesburg and Petal. Peak winds reached 145 mph and the path was up to 900 yards wide.^1,2 It killed 4 people in Hattiesburg and injured 56. It damaged homes, churches and businesses in Hattiesburg and businesses along Main Street in Petal.¹ Along its 31.3-mile path, an estimated 531 homes were destroyed or had major damage and 689 had minor damage. NOAA's Storm Events Database lists $9 million in property damage in Forrest County.¹

About 5:14 a.m. CST, an EF2 tornado tracked 15 miles from near Gilbertown in Choctaw County, Alabama, to the Marengo County line. It destroyed 4 homes, 2 of them mobile homes, damaged 20 other structures and injured 4 people.³

At 6:10 p.m. CST on January 20, golf ball size (1.75-inch) hail fell near Highway 288 and Beltway 8 in Harris County, Texas.⁴ Earlier that day, around 12:45 p.m. PST, a squall with estimated 56-knot (64 mph) gusts moved from Newport Beach to Santa Ana, California, causing minor roof damage. A 70 mph gust was measured on northern Camp Pendleton in San Diego County.^5,6

Sources

1. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Tornado event, Forrest County, Mississippi, January 21, 2017
2. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Tornado event, Lamar County, Mississippi, January 21, 2017
3. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Tornado event, Choctaw County, Alabama, January 21, 2017
4. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Hail event, Harris County, Texas, January 20, 2017
5. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Thunderstorm wind event, Orange County, California, January 20, 2017
6. NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: Thunderstorm wind event, San Diego County, California, January 20, 2017

Reports by hour

Hail24, most at 7 PM

Wind18, most at 3 AM

Tornado4, most at 3 AM

Reports per hour, Central time. Each row has its own scale.

Every report

Source: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center.

Time	Rating	Where	Path
3:13 AM	EF1	About 58 miles from Baton Rouge, LA	7.45 mi long, 150 yd wide
3:35 AM	EF3	About 58 miles from Gulfport, MS	31.06 mi long, 900 yd wide
5:14 AM	EF2	Near 31.85, -88.29, AL	20.42 mi long, 800 yd wide
5:55 AM	EF1	Near 32.10, -87.78, AL	4.17 mi long, 900 yd wide

Time	Size	Where
6:36 AM	0.25 in	About 25 miles from Vallejo, CA
3:35 PM	0.75 in	About 11 miles from Houston, TX
3:50 PM	0.25 in	About 9 miles from San Jose, CA
4:25 PM	0.25 in	About 9 miles from Salinas, CA
5:00 PM	0.25 in	In Salinas, CA
6:05 PM	1.0 in	About 7 miles from Pearland, TX
6:10 PM	1.75 in	About 5 miles from Pearland, TX
7:30 PM	0.75 in	In Beaumont, TX
7:52 PM	0.88 in	About 9 miles from Beaumont, TX
7:53 PM	1.0 in	About 9 miles from Beaumont, TX
7:55 PM	1.0 in	About 10 miles from Beaumont, TX
8:14 PM	1.0 in	About 23 miles from Beaumont, TX

Show all 24 hail reports

Time	Size	Where
8:30 PM	0.25 in	In Salinas, CA
8:40 PM	1.75 in	About 23 miles from Beaumont, TX
9:49 PM	0.25 in	About 3 miles from Salinas, CA
10:45 PM	1.0 in	About 40 miles from Lake Charles, LA
11:13 PM	1.25 in	About 24 miles from Lake Charles, LA
12:30 AM	1.75 in	Near 31.34, -91.12, MS
1:19 AM	1.0 in	About 52 miles from Jackson, MS
2:19 AM	1.0 in	About 12 miles from Jackson, MS
2:47 AM	1.0 in	Near 31.50, -89.74, MS
3:35 AM	1.75 in	Near 31.31, -89.49, MS
3:51 AM	1.75 in	Near 31.19, -89.67, MS
3:55 AM	1.75 in	Near 31.22, -89.63, MS

Time	Gust	Where
2:45 PM	64 mph	About 37 miles from Los Angeles, CA
3:05 PM	70 mph	About 40 miles from Riverside, CA
3:16 PM	67 mph	About 14 miles from Riverside, CA
4:10 PM	64 mph	About 19 miles from San Diego, CA
4:35 PM	70 mph	About 18 miles from San Diego, CA
8:05 PM	70 mph	In Beaumont, TX
10:48 PM	58 mph	About 17 miles from Lake Charles, LA
3:10 AM	58 mph	About 52 miles from Slidell, LA
3:14 AM	69 mph	Near 31.56, -89.50, MS
3:14 AM	63 mph	Near 31.59, -89.53, MS
3:15 AM	69 mph	About 60 miles from Baton Rouge, LA
3:45 AM	58 mph	About 59 miles from Jackson, MS

Show all 18 wind reports

Time	Gust	Where
3:51 AM	58 mph	Near 31.66, -89.10, MS
4:25 AM	63 mph	Near 31.44, -89.32, MS
4:40 AM	58 mph	About 32 miles from Montgomery, AL
4:49 AM	58 mph	Near 32.17, -88.87, MS
5:00 AM	58 mph	Near 32.27, -88.77, MS
5:38 AM	60 mph	Near 31.99, -87.99, AL

By state

State	Reports	Hail	Wind	Tornado
Mississippi	18	7	9	2
California	11	6	5	0
Texas	10	9	1	0
Alabama	4	0	2	2
Louisiana	3	2	1	0

Cities with reports nearby

Reports within 15 miles of the center of each city we track.

City	Largest hail	Highest gust
Houston, TX	1.75 in	None
Pasadena, TX	1.75 in	None
Pearland, TX	1.75 in	None
Sugar Land, TX	1.75 in	None
Beaumont, TX	1.0 in	70 mph
Jackson, MS	1.0 in	None
Salinas, CA	0.25 in	None
San Jose, CA	0.25 in	None
Riverside, CA	None	67 mph

Reports are what observers recorded near a location, not a complete record of every storm. They don’t describe conditions at any building.