December 2021 featured some notable weather extremes. In fact, monthly temperatures averaged at least 10°F above normal at numerous locations from the southern Plains to the Mississippi Delta, setting many records for the warmest-ever December. That warmth, along with frigid conditions (locally more than 5°F below normal) near the Canadian border from the Pacific Northwest to the northern Plains, fueled an active storm track and periods of severe thunderstorms and heavy precipitation. The month's first significant severe-weather outbreak occurred across the mid-South and lower Midwest on December 5-6. Less than a week later, on the 10th, the deadliest December tornado in the nation's history-an EF4 with winds estimated to have reached at least 190 mph-traveled nearly 166 miles, starting in Obion County, Tennessee, and devastating the Kentucky communities of Mayfield and Dawson Springs. Nearly five dozen deaths occurred during that tornado's rampage, according to preliminary reports, while dozens of additional tornadoes-some with fatalities-swarmed parts of neighboring states.
展开▼
