Tornado outbreak of January 2, 2006

On December 31, 2005, at 0600 UTC, in its day 1 forecast for January 1, 2006, the Storm Prediction Center issued in a slight risk of severe storms for the United States Gulf Coast and Ohio Valley as scattered to numerous thunderstorms were forecast to form over Alabama and Florida Panhandle. At 1300 UTC, the SPC extended the slight risk for severe weather as the trough shifted eastward across the Mississippi River Valley and the southern Jet stream combined with increasing moisture shifting across the U. S. Gulf Coast and Southeastern United States. On January 1, 2006, the SPC then issued a moderate risk of severe weather for much of the Southeastern United States and extended the slight risk of severe weather for the Ohio Valley and West Virginia and Pennsylvania as a strong area of low pressure with a trailing cold front moves across South Carolina. The National Weather Service forecast that the combination of warm air and the low will bring thunderstorms, damaging hail and tornadoes across Georgia and South Carolina. On January 2, the SPC NEXRAD detected a convective band of thunderstorms forming over southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. The SPC issued in its outlook that southeastern Alabama, Florida Panhandle, Georgia and South Carolina could experience severe thunderstorms, hail and tornadoes. At 12:17 PM (EST), the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Tattnall County in southeastern Georgia as the NEXRAD weather radar detected a line of severe thunderstorms producing hail and winds up to 60 mph. Another severe thunderstorm warning was issued at 1:07 (EST) for Effingham County and Bulloch County. At 1:23 PM (EST), the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for southeastern Georgia and southeastern South Carolina. The National Weather Service then issued a tornado warning for Effingham and Chatham counties. After that, the thunderstorms continued to produce hail and high winds across much of Georgia and South Carolina, causing the NWS to issue more severe thunderstorm warnings and another tornado watch until 11:30 PM (EST). Elsewhere, thunderstorms also spawned numerous reports of tornadoes, hail and high winds in Kentucky, Indiana. Overall there were 19 confirmed tornadoes across the Southeastern United States.

List of reported tornadoes Sunday, January 1, 2006F# Location County Coord. Time (UTC) Path length DamageMississippi F1S of Spring CottageMarion 15251 mile (2 km)50 ft wide tornado caused $10,000 (2006 USD) in damage.

List of reported tornadoes Monday, January 2, 2006F# Location County Coord. Time (UTC) Path length DamageMissouri F0W of ChesterfieldSt. Charles 03000.5 mile (1 km)Brief touch down, no damage. F0W of CorridonReynolds 04450.5 mile (1 km)Brief touchdown, no damage. F1W of St. LouisSt. Louis05250.5 mile (1 km)Brief touchdown, no damage. Illinois F1S of OconneShelby 22480.1 mile (0 km)Tornado destroyed barn and blew down a few tree limbs. Damage from the tornado amounted to $15,000 (2006 USD). Florida F0SumatraLiberty 11550.2 mile (0 km)Tornado damaged unoccupied trailer and powerlines causing $10,000 (2006 USD) in damage. Kentucky F2SW of ElizabethtownHardin 13438.4 mile (14 km) F1E of TannerLaure 13506.4 mile (10 km) F1SW of LouisvilleJefferson 14221.5 mile (2 km) F2NE of ColumbiaAdair14220.6 mile (1 km) F1N of PellytonAdair14570.1 mile (0 km) F2SW of New SalemLincoln15348.7 mile (14 km)Georgia F2SW of Atlanta, GeorgiaFulton, Fayette 15457 mile (11 km) F3S of HollonvillePike16123 mile (5 km) F0SE of Liberty HillLamar16440.2 mile (0 km) F1NE of FlippenHenry16480.6 mile (1 km) F1NW of WaysideJones17353 mile (5 km) F1N of KiteJohnson, Emanuel192212 mile (19 km) F0SE of Four PointsJenkins County, Georgia20150.1 mile (0 km)

The severe weather entered central Kentucky in the afternoon of January 2. Damage from the tornado amounted to $2 million (2006 USD). At 2:45 pm, another thunderstorm formed in northwestern Hart County and crossed Interstate 65 and into LaRue County. At 2:50 pm, the storm spawned an F1 tornado that touched down near Talley. During its broken path, the tornado damaged several homes, outbuildings and a barn. The LaRue County tornado left $500,000 (2006 USD) in damage. Another storm moving across the Ohio River and into Louisville, Kentucky spawned a tornado that damaged several houses before dissipating. As the supercell thunderstorm crossed over Louisville, National Weather Service NEXRAD doppler capability detected rotation at the mid levels of the thunderstorm as it crossed the city producing hail and heavy rain. In Adair County, two tornadoes were reported. One was an F2 tornado which touched down south of Columbia destroying a mobile home and damaging several houses. Another tornado, an F1 touched down near Pellytown causing damage to several homes. In Lincoln County, another thunderstorm spawned a tornado that touched down 3 miles south of McKinney and moved northeast peaking at F2 strength before dissipating. The tornado damaged or destroyed several mobile homes and injured two people person. Damage from the tornado amounted to $350,000 (2006 USD). The F2 tornado caused moderate damage to trees and destroyed an apartment house. The same thunderstorm that produced the tornado in Pike County, produced another tornado that touched down in Lamar County causing minor tree damage. Later in Johnson County, a tornado touched down near Kite where it moved 2 miles before crossing into Emanuel County causing moderate tree damage. A weather station in Jeffersonville reported winds of 60 mph. In Chicago, Illinois, high winds left 11,500 residents without power and cancelled flights at O'Hare International Airport. Severe thunderstorms also caused wind damage in Casey County. In Georgia, a line of thunderstorms produced sustained winds of 40 45 mph which caused damage to trees and houses. In South Carolina, the storm brought 55 mph winds producing damage to trees and mobile homes.

In Indiana, there was hail up to 1.25 inches. Hail up 0.75 inches was reported in Illinois. Hail was also reported in Michigan. In Georgia, a police officer reported nickel sized hail.