EF1 Tornado — Perry, Alabama

2012-01-23 · near Heiberger, Perry, Alabama

2.1 mi

Path length

300 yds

Path width

Event narrative

A tornado, with winds of 110 MPH, briefly touched down along County Road 7 and moved northeast crossing County Road 16 and Alabama Highway 5. Scores of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped or uprooted along the path. The tornado lifted just after crossing Alabama Road 175. Merchantable timber losses estimated by the Alabama Forestry Commission for this track are approximately $84K.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7068, -87.3096)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 363587. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.