EF1 tornado, Highway 231 Pea River Bridge to Tennille, Alabama, December 25, 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 25, 2012

Touchdown

5:27 PM CST (23:27 UTC)

Lifted

5:36 PM CST (23:36 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

5.4 miles (8.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Dale and Pike counties

Touchdown point

31.594, -85.782

Lift-off point

31.666, -85.747

Record number

1212251727-01

20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• porch and carport collapse on home.
• .south edge. pine tree on awning
• .also shingle removed from home and fascia damage. South edge.
• .much of roof removed from a well built older home. Another tree fell on a hourse causing significant roof damage.

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

A strong upper level trough and cold front moved through the area. There was sufficient instability and shear for a few strong to severe thunderstorms across the area, including a few tornadoes. However, all of the tornadoes were rated EF0, and the most severe weather remained just west of southeastern Alabama.

Late Christmas Eve, a well amplified upper level trough dug into the southern Plains. In response, a surface low developed Christmas morning over southern Texas. As the upper low deepened and tilted negatively, the surface low strengthened as it moved eastward. By Christmas afternoon, a swath of severe weather swept across the Deep South, with discrete supercells and a broken line of thunderstorms in trail. These thunderstorms moved across central Alabama during the evening hours, bringing with them strong straight line winds, numerous tornadoes, as well as flooding.

An EF0 tornado touched down in northwestern Dale county near the Highway 231 Pea River Bridge and traveled northeastward into Pike County. In Dale county, trees were twisted and partially snapped, but no structural damage occurred. In Pike county, the tornado strengthened to EF1, but the Dale county portion of this tornado was rated EF0.

The tornado touched down in far northern Dale County (See Storm Data Tallahassee) along Highway 231 near the Pea River. The tornado tracked northeastward and crossed County Road (CR) 200 before it entered Pike County. The tornado continued northeastward and produced damage along CR 4425 and CR 4438. The tornado lifted near the intersection of CR 4427 north of CR 4421. Numerous trees were either snapped off or were uprooted along the damage path. The most significant damage occurred along CR 4425 where 2 homes sustained roof damage and 2 chicken houses were damaged. Also along CR 4438, a barn lost its roof with the tin being thrown over one half mile and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted. The total tornado path length was 5.36 miles and was 300 yards wide at its widest point. The tornado first touched down at 527 pm CST.

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

NWS Tallahassee, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Dec 25, 5:25 PM CST, 2 minutes earlier.

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In the hours before

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PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TALLAHASSEE FL
606 PM EST TUE DEC 25 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     3 NE NEWARK             31.41N 85.89W
12/25/2012                   COFFEE             AL   PUBLIC

            FUNNEL CLOUD SPOTTED IN CLINTONVILLE, AL. TOO FAR AWAY TO
            SEE IF IT WAS TOUCHING DOWN OR NOT.

&&

MOORE

Lowe Ahp/Ft. Rucker (LOR), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

32 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.