EF2 Tornado — Sumter, Alabama

2023-01-12 · near Emelle, Sumter, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Sumter County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 120 mph. This tornado began near Sumter Road 24 uprooting trees. The tornado continued east-northeast along Sumter 24 where it destroyed a grain bin near Ramsey Lane along with snapping and uprooting a few more softwood trees. The tornado moved through the town of Emelle where it caused damage to several roofs in the community, along with uprooting and snapping numerous trees. The tornado crossed Highway 74 and took the roof off of a home and destroyed an outbuilding near the intersection of Highway 74 and Sunlight Church Road. The tornado crossed Highway 39 and destroyed a mobile home on Hodges Place Road. The tornado lifted just east of Sumter 21, uprooting and snapping a few more trees along the way.

Wider weather episode

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms impacted Central Alabama during the morning and afternoon hours of Thursday, January 12th, 2023. Several supercell thunderstorms spawned multiple tornadoes which caused significant damage in many areas. The severe thunderstorms also produced damaging straight-line winds and hail up to golf ball size.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7288, -88.3463)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1074345. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.