EF2 Tornado — Hale, Alabama

2023-01-12 · near Akron, Hale, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Hale County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 115 mph. This tornado originated in northeast Greene County and crossed into Hale County west of Akron along the Black Warrior River. The most significant damage was on the Hale County side of the river along Flemming Road and Oak Village Road. Many manufactured homes were destroyed on Flemming Road, mostly due to uprooted and snapped hardwood trees. One home on Oak Village Road sustained significant damage after garage failure occurred. This resulted in adjacent walls collapsing and most of the roof structure being blown north into the river. Additional timber and varying degrees of structural damage was observed to the end of Oak Village Road. The tornado continued northeast, but is believed to have weakened or skipped along its path. Only minor timber damage was found near the Stewart community and along Highway 69. However, more significant timber damage was found downstream on County Road 50, entering the Talladega National Forest. Hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted with a path width around 300 yards at this point as the tornado strengthened. The tornado continued northeast and crossed into the far southeast corner of Tuscaloosa County.

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 → (32.8890, -87.8050)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1076605. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.