"A series of severe storms - including tornadoes - touched down in three southern states Tuesday, killing four people, damaging homes and businesses, flipping cars, knocking down trees, and downing power lines.

While snow fell in some Midwestern states Tuesday - nearly 2 feet in South Dakota's Black Hills - a strong storm system expected to drop rain along the East Coast and snow from Missouri to Michigan developed in Mississippi, Georgia and Louisiana, among other southern states. The severe storms in the South killed at least four people.

The worst damage appears to be from a twister that roared through southern Mississppi."

Doyle Rice reports for USA TODAY December 23, 2014. [2]