EF1 tornado, Cottage Hill to Magazine, Alabama, December 20, 2012

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

December 20, 2012

Touchdown

4:49 AM CST (10:49 UTC)

Lifted

5:05 AM CST (11:05 UTC)

On the ground

16 minutes

Path length

6.7 miles (10.7 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mobile County

Touchdown point

30.667, -88.138

Lift-off point

30.744, -88.071

Record number

1212200449-01

27 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 109 mph.

• Several pine trees snapped. 1 house with major roof damage due to trees falling onto it. 3 houses with minor to moderate roof damage with 20 to 50 percent of roof covering removed.
• Significant portion of the roof of the Regions Bank was blown off.
• Several roof panels peeled back on warehouse.

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

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching cold front during the early morning hours. These storms produced several reports of wind damage and one of the storms produced a tornado that moved across portions of the city of Mobile.

The tornado initially touched down along Michael Boulevard producing|EF-0 damage (winds estimated up to 85 mph) where it damaged the roof|of the YMCA and produced moderate damage to the Davidson High School|baseball field. The tornado continued moving northeast|strengthening as it moved across Montlimar Boulevard producing EF-1|damage (from winds estimated at 86 to 110 mph) to several businesses|on the southwest corner of the Interstate 65/Airport Boulevard|intersection. The tornado circulation widened to near 75 yards as|it moved northeast affecting numerous homes through midtown mobile,|blowing large sections of roofs off of several homes, snapping or|blowing over numerous trees. Here the storm produced damages|estimated in the millions of dollars to local businesses (including|significant amounts of damage to the facility and inventory of a|Mercedes Benz dealership). Also impacted was the regional American|Red Cross headquarters in Mobile where significant damage to the|roof and damage to several support vehicles/trailers was noted. The|tornado continued at EF-1 strength as it tracked northeast into the|city of Prichard doing similar damage, before weakening and|dissipating along U.S. Highway 43 at Woodland Avenue.

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

38 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:11 UTC, 38 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:25 UTC and running to 16:16 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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 Mobile radar (KMOB), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:47 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.

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

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

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

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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