Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2012

EF0 tornado, Toxey, Alabama, August 30, 2012

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Choctaw County on August 30, 2012, touching down at 10:58 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. EF2111 to 135 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
August 30, 2012
Touchdown
10:58 AM CDT (15:58 UTC)
Lifted
11:00 AM CDT (16:00 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Choctaw County
Touchdown point
31.900, -88.283
Lift-off point
31.900, -88.283
Record number
1208300958-01

The damage survey

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS JAN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

  • several trees snapped and uprooted as well.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

Hurricane Isaac moved into central Louisiana. This track brought storm surge...flooding...and isolated tornadoes to the central gulf coast.

A weak tornado briefly touched downing a few trees near Toxey.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

42 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:16 UTC, 42 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:15 UTC and running to 20:59 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
11:43 UTC12:20 UTCTornado WarningMOB
12:15 UTC20:59 UTCTornado WatchMOB
13:10 UTC13:45 UTCTornado WarningMOB
13:45 UTC14:30 UTCTornado WarningMOB
15:16 UTC16:00 UTCTornado WarningMOB
15:56 UTC16:45 UTCTornado WarningMOB
16:56 UTC17:29 UTCTornado WarningMOB
21:00 UTC00:28 UTCTornado WatchMOB

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:49 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z

4.0 hours before the tornado, 176 km from the path. August 30, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2012-08-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 107 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 501 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2012-08-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 473 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
501 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
473 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
650 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

8.0 hours after it, 176 km from the path. August 31, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2012-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 42 joules per kilogram, CIN -83, lifted condensation level 796 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2012-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 303 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
42 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83 J/kg
Surface CAPE
181 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
796 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
303 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
319 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Meridian/Key Field (MEI), 65 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
13:58 UTC7674130° 10 kt181009.1RA BR
14:08 UTC75.273.4130° 16 kt221009.8+RA FG
14:12 UTC75.273.4140° 10 kt221009.8+RA BR
14:22 UTC75.273.4110° 25 kt351009.5+RA FG
14:31 UTC75.273.4140° 14 kt321009.8+RA BR
14:35 UTC75.273.4150° 18 kt261009.8-RA BR
14:46 UTC75.273.4120° 12 kt201010.2RA
14:58 UTC7674140° 12 kt191010.5+RA BR
15:05 UTC75.273.4140° 8 kt1010.5+RA BR
15:16 UTC75.273.4120° 11 kt191010.5-RA BR
15:17 UTC75.273.4120° 11 kt191010.5-RA BR
15:48 UTC7773.4140° 12 kt181010.5
15:54 UTC7773.4140° 20 kt271010.5+RA BR
15:58 UTC7674130° 18 kt271010.5RA BR
16:05 UTC75.273.4120° 14 kt261010.5-RA BR
16:58 UTC8075130° 13 kt221010.8-RA BR
17:05 UTC80.675.2130° 13 kt201011.2-RA BR
17:41 UTC80.673.4140° 19 kt281011.2-RA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:58 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
15:58 UTCTORNADO1 E ToxeyChoctaw, ALDOWNED AND SNAPPED TREES REPORTED NEAR THE TOWN OF TOXEY.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 30, 2012

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 302:44 AM CDTEF1Coffee, AL3.035$25,000
August 307:10 AM CDTEF2Jackson, MS0.840$75,000
August 309:49 AM CDTEF1Clarke, MS6.11003$100,000
August 3010:18 AM CDTEF1Lauderdale, MS1.4100$70,000

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.