Tornado, Jackson
- When
- January 5, 12:30 AM CST to 12:35 AM CST
- Where
- Jackson County, Stevenson to 10 mi SE of Stevenson
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 2.7 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Property damage
- $60,000
- Crop damage
- $5,000
- Coordinates
- 34.770, -85.730
Tornado in Alabama, January 5, 1997
A thunderstorm hit the Flat Rock area at exactly 12:30 am with what was probably a weak tornado. A church sustained heavy damage; the west wall collapsed and the roof fell in.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $60,000
- Crop damage
- $5,000
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.
A thunderstorm hit the Flat Rock area at exactly 12:30 am with what was probably a weak tornado. A church sustained heavy damage; the west wall collapsed and the roof fell in. Forty to 50 -foot oak trees near the church were downed. About a mile down the path of damage, a roof had shingles lifted off and several large trees were downed. About two miles from the church, 15 to 20 large pine trees were downed. The damage was very isolated to the path. A house 100 feet from the church sustained no damage.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Winter Storm in New Mexico, January 5 to 6, 1997
- High Wind in California, January 5 to 7, 1997
- Tornado in Alabama, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, January 5, 1997
- High Wind in Ohio, January 5, 1997
- Tornado in Ohio, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, January 5, 1997
- Tornado in Georgia, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Alabama, January 5, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Ohio, January 5, 1997
More
Every storm in Alabama in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 1997Warnings in Alabama, January 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5591233.