EF1 tornado in Chilton County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Chilton County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. The tornado touched down just west of County Road 33, a few miles south of the Chilton and Shelby County line. Before crossing County Road 33, the tornado uprooted and snapped several trees and at least four structures were damaged. The tornado traveled east over Highway 31 and produced significant tree damage when it reached County Road 800. The tornado continued east northeast over I-65 and then over mostly rural northern Chilton County where it uprooted and snapped numerous trees. The tornado crossed into Shelby County near Wilderness Trail.

A line of storms with embedded supercells developed south of an outflow boundary ahead of a slow-moving cold front, producing damaging winds and several tornadoes across the northern portions of central Alabama during the evening hours on December 29th. The surface boundary shifted into the southern counties of central Alabama on December 30th. The low level shear was not favorable for tornadoes, but the storms were robust enough to produce damaging winds and large hail.