EF1 tornado, Kincheon to Cooper, Alabama, January 23, 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

January 23, 2012

Touchdown

6:36 AM CST (12:36 UTC)

Lifted

6:40 AM CST (12:40 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.6 miles (5.8 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Chilton County

Touchdown point

32.729, -86.633

Lift-off point

32.766, -86.589

Record number

1201230636-01

45 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Grove of pine trees snapped.
• cmu hardware store destroyed
• .Steel roof entirely peeled off well built pole barn.
• .300 yds. Path heading now 060. storm is curling up under meso.

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

An upper level low pressure system developed over the Great Plains and moved east across the Ohio River Valley, dragging a cold front through the lower Mississippi River Valley. As the cold front moved through Arkansas, a squall line formed, producing severe thunderstorms to areas west of Alabama. As the cold front progressed eastward, individual supercells developed in advance of the front and moved through Alabama during the early morning hours on January 23rd. Several long track supercells produced strong, long track tornadoes.

A tornado touched down near the intersection of County Road 99 and County Road 24 in the Enterprise community, causing minor damage to several manufactured homes and destroying one. The tornado tracked northeastward, crossing County Road 24 and County Road 733. As the tornado crossed County Road 49 and County Road 370, the tornado reached it maximum strength of 105-110 MPH and maximum width of 500 yds. At least 10 homes were severely damaged in this area. One home was completely shifted off its foundation, while another was partially moved. Another home had 90 percent of its roof removed, however all walls remained standing. The tornado continued to the northeast with several other homes receiving minor roof and porch damage along County Road 59. Along the remainder of its path, the tornado destroyed a few outbuildings and knocked down numerous trees. The tornado lifted along County Road 434, east of County Road 7. Merchantable timber losses estimated by the Alabama Forestry Commission for this track are approximately $108K.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:36 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:08 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:45 UTC and running to 13:59 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 05:58 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 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.

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:36 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

11 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.