EF2 tornado, Gulf Crest to Mt Vernon, Alabama, January 12, 2023

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

January 12, 2023

Touchdown

12:15 PM CST (18:15 UTC)

Lifted

12:33 PM CST (18:33 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

11.7 miles (18.7 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mobile County

Touchdown point

31.020, -88.203

Lift-off point

31.069, -88.015

Record number

2301121215-01

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Clear convergence noted. Tornado restrengthening at this point.
• A few skinny pines snapped
• Extensive damage to a swath of large oak trees - very apparent convergent pattern
• Large oak trees uprooted and numerous pines snapped

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

A very warm and moist airmass developed ahead of an approaching strong cold front. Showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of the front and moved across the area. The storms produced three tornadoes along with a swath of wind damage stretching from the I-65 corridor in Conecuh County o far southeastern Crenshaw County.

The tornado is estimated to have touched down just west of Old Citronelle Road or just east of U.S. Highway 45 near Gulfcrest. The tornado likely continued along rural forested areas east of Citronelle Road and Celeste Road that were inaccessible by the survey team based on radar velocity and tornado debris signatures. The survey team found evidence of snapped pine trees just southwest of Movico Loop Road North. The tornado strengthened as it crossed Movico Loop Road East causing significant softwood tree snaps and uprooting of large hardwood trees. A double wide manufactured home that was secured with straps rolled from its foundation and was destroyed just west of U.S. Highway 43. This iswhere the tornado reached peak intensity. The tornado then crossed U.S. Highway 43 just north of Cedar Creek Landing Road where a single wide manufactured home rolled from its foundation and was destroyed. The survey team found large oak trees snapped in a convergent pattern just to the north of where the manufactured home was destroyed. These damage indicators suggest that the tornado reached peak EF2 intensity with estimated winds around 125 mph and maximum width around 200 yards near the intersection of U.S Highway 43 and Cedar Creek Landing Road. Areal footage provided by Alabama Law Enforcement Agency indicates that the path narrowed with some residual softwood snaps into the forest north of Cedar Creek Landing Road before lifting. This tornado path received many cosmetic updates based on Planet and Worldview satellite imagery. An additional region of EF2 strength tree damage was noted based on this satellite imagery north of Deer Wood Road where widespread trees were snapped and/or uprooted.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:20 UTC and running to 21:34 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:56 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), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:13 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 2023 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

41 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.