Tornadoes · United States · Tennessee · 2012

EF1 tornado, Center Hill to Chesterfield, Tennessee, January 22, 2012

Name: EF1 tornado, Center Hill to Chesterfield, Tennessee, January 22, 2012
Start: 2012-01-23T05:55:00.000Z
End: 2012-01-23T06:07:00.000Z
Location: Center Hill to Chesterfield, Tennessee

From Center Hill to Chesterfield, this EF1 tornado ran 8.0 miles across Henderson County on January 22, 2012, touching down at 11:55 PM CST and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF1
Date: January 22, 2012
Touchdown: 11:55 PM CST (05:55 UTC)
Lifted: 12:07 AM CST (06:07 UTC)
On the ground: 12 minutes
Path length: 8.0 miles (12.8 km)
Path width: 150 yards (137 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $50,000
County: Henderson County
Touchdown point: 35.585, -88.392
Lift-off point: 35.642, -88.269
Record number: 1201222355-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A low pressure system developed over the Southern Plains and moved to the northeast. The strong low pressure system had moved to the Kansas and Missouri border by the time the event started. A very strong low-level jet, along with a very strong jet stream, moved across the Mid-South during the evening hours. An upper level short wave moved across Arkansas during the early evening hours. This short wave was the focus of thunderstorm development which produced severe thunderstorms over parts of West Tennessee.

The tornado started about 5 miles south of Lexington and moved northeast. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped along the path. A portion of a roof was blown off a house. A shed in the backyard was also destroyed. The tornado touched down primarily on ridge tops before eventually lifting just northeast of Butterscotch Road.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Memphis, TN wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Jan 22, 8:41 PM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 22, 8:41 PM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 22, 11:24 PM CST, 31 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1124 PM CST SUN JAN 22 2012

ARZ008-009-017-018-026>028-035-036-048-049-058-MOZ113-115-
MSZ001>017-020>024-TNZ001>004-019>021-048>055-088>092-240730-
ALCORN-BENTON MS-CALHOUN-CARROLL-CHESTER-CHICKASAW-CLAY-COAHOMA-
CRAIGHEAD-CRITTENDEN-CROCKETT-CROSS-DESOTO-DECATUR-DUNKLIN-DYER-
FAYETTE-GIBSON-GREENE-HARDEMAN-HARDIN-HAYWOOD-HENDERSON-HENRY-
ITAWAMBA-LAFAYETTE-LAKE-LAUDERDALE-LAWRENCE-LEE AR-LEE MS-MADISON-
MARSHALL-MCNAIRY-MISSISSIPPI-MONROE-OBION-PANOLA-PEMISCOT-
PHILLIPS-POINSETT-PONTOTOC-PRENTISS-QUITMAN-RANDOLPH-SHELBY-
ST. FRANCIS-TALLAHATCHIE-TATE-TIPPAH-TIPTON-TISHOMINGO-TUNICA-
UNION-WEAKLEY-YALOBUSHA-
1124 PM CST SUN JAN 22 2012

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST ARKANSAS...
THE MISSOURI BOOTHEEL...NORTH MISSISSIPPI...AND WEST TENNESSEE.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

THERE IS A MODERATE RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVERNIGHT FOR
PORTIONS OF WEST TENNESSEE AND NORTH MISSISSIPPI EAST OF A LINE
FROM MARTIN TENNESSEE TO SENATOBIA MISSISSIPPI TO CLARKSDALE
MISSISSIPPI. DAMAGING WINDS...TORNADOES AND LARGE HAIL WILL BE
THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS.

A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF THE OVERNIGHT HOURS FOR
SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST WINDS GUSTING TO 40MPH.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NECESSARY OVERNIGHT FOR THOSE AREAS IN
THE MODERATE RISK.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 22, 10:42 PM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 22, 10:44 PM CST, 1 hour 11 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 22, 10:59 PM CST, 56 minutes before

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Local storm report, Jan 22, 11:01 PM CST, 54 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1101 PM CST SUN JAN 22 2012

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

1015 PM     HAIL             ATOKA                   35.45N 89.77W
01/22/2012  E0.88 INCH       TIPTON             TN   TRAINED SPOTTER

1015 PM     TSTM WND GST     ATOKA                   35.45N 89.77W
01/22/2012  E58 MPH          TIPTON             TN   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

CJC

Local storm report, Jan 22, 11:27 PM CST, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1127 PM CST SUN JAN 22 2012

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

1120 PM     TORNADO          TREBLOC                 33.83N 88.85W
01/22/2012                   CHICKASAW          MS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR
            TREBLOC.

&&

CJC

Local storm report, Jan 22, 11:55 PM CST, 0 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
1155 PM CST SUN JAN 22 2012

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

1030 PM     TSTM WND DMG     DYER                    36.07N 88.99W
01/22/2012                   GIBSON             TN   PUBLIC

            METAL DETACHABLE GARAGE BLOWN OVER.

&&

BORGHOFF

The air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

5.9 hours before the tornado, 166 km from the path. January 23, 2012.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 517 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 337 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 371 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Sibley (SZY), 48 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Memphis radar (KNQA), 143 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:56 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2012 tornado in Tennessee Every tornado in Tennessee since 1950 Warnings in force in Tennessee now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 22, 2012

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
January 22	7:13 PM CST	EF2	Calhoun, AR	19.6	550		$4.1 million
January 22	7:29 PM CST	EF1	Lonoke, AR	0.8	50		$100,000
January 22	8:05 PM CST	EF1	Jefferson, AR	3.8	400		$175,000
January 22	8:15 PM CST	EF2	Jefferson, AR	17.0	300		$825,000
January 22	8:36 PM CST	EF2	Arkansas, AR	14.4	400		$1.0 million
January 22	8:45 PM CST	EF1	Arkansas, AR	9.4	75		$250,000
January 22	9:03 PM CST	EF1	Monroe, AR	8.4	250		$325,000
January 22	10:18 PM CST	EF2	White, IL	18.0	100		$250,000
January 22	10:34 PM CST	EF2	Bolivar, MS	3.4	332	1	$700,000
January 22	10:42 PM CST	EF1	Edwards, IL	6.1	100		$30,000
January 22	11:00 PM CST	EF0	Quitman, MS	0.3	75		$50,000
January 22	11:03 PM CST	EF1	Calloway, KY	5.6	100		$50,000

What this means

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.

Sources

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