EF3 tornado, Ketona to Argo, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

January 23, 2012

Touchdown

3:58 AM CST (09:58 UTC)

Lifted

4:20 AM CST (10:20 UTC)

On the ground

22 minutes

Path length

15.7 miles (25.2 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

75

Counties

Jefferson and St. Clair counties

Touchdown point

33.623, -86.741

Lift-off point

33.720, -86.496

Record number

1201230358-01

65 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 152 mph.

• Hundreds of trees both hardwood and softwood uprooted and snapped.
• several homes completely demolished. pilgrims rest subdivision
• several businesses and buildings with similar damage
• Shingles and small branches down. Southern edge of damage swath. 60 to 70 mph winds.

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.

The tornado touched down in central Jefferson county and tracked northeastward for 15.69 miles, before lifting in western St. Clair county. It touched down along Pawnee Village Rd, about 3.25 miles northeast of Tarrant where several businesses sustained roof and wall damage. The tornado then tracked to the northeast, across Pinson Valley Parkway where several additional businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed. In the city of Center Point, the path width increased to 880 yds as the tornado strengthened to 120 mph. Center Point Elementary School sustained extreme damage, with one building destroyed and extensive damage to several other buildings. The destroyed building was valued at $13 million and the loss of contents inside at $5 million. The tornado continued northeast, crossing Center Point Parkway, causing damage to numerous businesses near 24th St. Minor roof damage, consistent with winds of 100 MPH, occurred to multiple businesses, gas stations, and a strip mall. The tornado crossed Sweeney Hollow Rd and Tyler Loop Rd, and moved through Paradise Valley subdivision, damaging or destroying approximately 200 homes. As the tornado crossed Old Springville Rd, it intensified to 150 MPH, causing extensive damage or destroying to two dozen homes in the George Brook subdivision. Of the homes destroyed, most, if not all, exterior and interior walls were collapsed. The tornado crossed the southern extent of Steeplechase subdivision, destroying two homes, where one fatality occurred, and causing minor to moderate roof damage to numerous other homes. Path width was approximately 600 yds wide at this point. The tornado continued northeast, causing minor to moderate damage to numerous homes in the Pilgrim���s Rest subdivision. The heaviest damage was along Plymouth Rock Dr., where approximately a dozen homes were destroyed. As the tornado approached the St. Clair county line, it weakened to an EF1 with winds of 105 MPH, and caused significant damage to at least two homes, with minor damage to several others along Skyline Way. In addition, numerous trees were knocked down. The tornado crossed into St. Clair County south of Will Keith Rd, one mile north of Interstate 59, Exit 148. In total, approximately 50 businesses received some degree of damage, 200 homes were heavily damaged or destroyed, and 200 homes received minor to moderate damage. Merchantable timber losses estimated by the Alabama Forestry Commission for this track are approximately $132K.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

26 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:32 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:45 UTC and running to 11:06 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.

Birmingham Municipal (BHM), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 57 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:58 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.

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.