Severe Weather Event from January 19-22, 2017

News Headlines

🗺️ U.S. Winter Outlook: Warmer and drier South, wetter North
🎃Our roundup of activities, educational resources, and demos are sure to make you fall in love with science this season!
✈️NOAA and United Airlines partner to measure greenhouse gases, pollutants with high-tech flight instruments

Severe Weather Event from January 19-22, 2017

Event Summary for Central Alabama

After over a week of near-record to record high temperatures, several upper-level disturbances followed by a strong upper-level low pressure system produced multiple rounds of severe weather across Central Alabama. This system was characterized by strong upper-level winds and very cold upper-level temperatures. The first round produced one brief, weak tornado in St. Clair County on the evening of January 19. The second round occurred on the morning of January 20 with 12 tornadoes across Marengo, Elmore, Macon, Lee, Pike, and Barbour Counties. A third round produced damaging straight line winds on the night of January 21, including in the Birmingham metro area where the Birmingham airport measured a 75 mph wind gust and in Oneonta where 80 mph straight-line winds caused significant damage. A brief tornado also occurred in Tuscaloosa County with this activity. Finally, a fourth round moved through during the day on January 22 with 3 tornadoes across Bullock and Lee Counties.

The information contained below is from the 17 individual tornado events and 1 straight line wind damage event that occurred. The data is PRELIMINARY and may be subject to change.

Location/Clickable Detailed Summary Link	Damage Rating/Estimated Maximum Wind Speeds	Injuries/Fatalities	Damage Path Length/Width	Starting Point/Time	Ending Point/Time
Treasure Island Tornado (St. Clair County)	EF-1 90 mph	None	0.7 miles 175 yards	2 ENE Coosa Island 33.4785/-86.3045 558 pm on Jan 19	5 SSW Pell City 33.4877/-86.3025 600 pm on Jan 19
Putnam Tornado (Marengo County)	EF-1 110 mph	None	5.49 miles 800 yards	1.6 SSW Democrat 32.0041/-88.1100 529 am on Jan 21	0.9 ESE Putnam 32.0237/-88.0173 743 pm on Jan 21
Wayne Tornado (Marengo County)	EF-1 90 mph	None	4.17 miles 900 yards	1.6 SSW Wayne 32.0988/-87.7823 555 am on Jan 21	1.1 ENE Miller 32.1570/-87.7634 601 am on Jan 21
Wetumpka Tornado (Elmore County)	EF-1 100 mph	None	1.53 miles 450 yards	1.4 S Wetumpka 32.5299/-86.2179 755 am on Jan 21	0.7 E Wetumpka 32.5504/-86.2081 758 am on Jan 21
Willow Springs Road Tornado (Elmore County)	EF-1 90 mph	None	0.68 miles 200 yards	6.0 ESE Man 32.4692/-86.1733 755 am on Jan 21	5.7 SSE Wetumpka 32.4785/-86.1697 756 am on Jan 21
Emerald Mountain Tornado (Elmore County)	EF-0 75 mph	None	0.21 miles 90 yards	2 S Emerald Mountain 32.4359/-86.1064 757 am on Jan 21	1 S Emerald Mountain 32.4388/-86.1052 757 am on Jan 21
Society Hill Tornado (Macon and Lee Counties)	EF-1 90 mph	None	2.84 miles 100 yards	3 N Society Hill 32.4740/-85.4557 848 am on Jan 21	4 SW Beauregard 32.5090/-85.4303 850 am on Jan 21
Wright Crossroads Tornado (Lee County)	EF-0 70 mph	None	2.38 miles 150 yards	5 S Auburn 32.5267/-85.4825 849 am on Jan 21	3 SSE Auburn 32.5500/-85.4523 853 am on Jan 21
Troy/Louisville Tornado (Pike and Barbour Counties)	EF-1 90 mph	None	37.34 miles 400 yards	5 N Goshen 31.7870/-86.1345 855 am on Jan 21	3 E Louisville 31.7882/-85.4987 938 am on Jan 21
Moores Mill Road Tornado (Lee County)	EF-0 70 mph	None	1.07 miles 150 yards	2 NNE Beauregard 32.5626/-85.3572 856 am on Jan 21	5 SSE Opelika 32.5777/-85.3529 858 am on Jan 21
Robinson Creek Tornado (Lee County)	EF-0 65 mph	None	0.83 miles 150 yards	3 SSE Opelika 32.6138/-85.3677 900 am on Jan 21	2 SSE Opelika 32.6240/-85.3603 901 am on Jan 21
Crawford Tornado (Lee County)	EF-0 80 mph	None	0.12 miles 50 yards	2 NW Crawford 32.4811/-85.2189 908 am on Jan 21	2 NW Crawford 32.4828/-85.2183 908 am on Jan 21
Smiths Station Tornado (Lee County)	EF-1 90 mph	None	0.92 miles 300 yards	1 W Smiths Station 32.5294/-85.1094 919 am on Jan 21	Smiths Station 32.5377/-85.0971 920 am on Jan 21
Hagler Tornado (Tuscaloosa County)	EF-0 80 mph	None	0.28 miles 200 yards	1 N Hagler 33.0439/-87.3412 1236 am on Jan 22	1 N Hagler 33.0471/-87.3381 1237 am on Jan 22
Oneonta Straight Line Wind Damage (Blount County)	EF: N/A 80 mph	None	1.40 miles 1000 yards	Oneonta 33.9464/-86.4761 138 am on Jan 22	Oneonta 33.9464/-86.4761 140 am on Jan 22
Shopton Tornado (Bullock County)	EF-1 90 mph	None	1.98 miles 320 yards	1 NW Shopton 32.1254/-85.9570 106 pm on Jan 22	2 NNE Shopton 32.1386/-85.9269 111 pm on Jan 22
Longleaf Drive Tornado (Lee County)	EF-0 70 mph	None	4.76 miles 200 yards	4 NE Tuskegee National Forest 32.5302/-85.5572 146 pm on Jan 22	1 SW Auburn 32.5797/-85.5004 156 pm on Jan 22
Shady Park Tornado (Lee County)	EF-1 95 mph	None	3.08 miles 540 yards	0.7 NE Robert G. Pitts Airport (AUO) 32.6262/-85.4207 200 pm on Jan 22	1 ESE Sougahatchee Lake 32.6677/-85.4015 207 pm on Jan 22

Pertinent Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data from this Event

Severe Weather Episode Data

300 mb Analysis Jan 19 at 6 pm	500 mb Analysis Jan 19 at 6 pm	850 mb Analysis Jan 19 6 pm
300 mb Analysis Jan 20 at 6 pm	500 mb Analysis Jan 20 at 6 pm	850 mb Analysis Jan 20 at 6 pm
300 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 am	500 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 am	850 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 am
300 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 pm	500 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 pm	850 mb Analysis Jan 21 at 6 pm
300 mb Analysis Jan 22 at 6 am	500 mb Analysis Jan 22 at 6 am	850 mb Analysis Jan 22 at 6 am
Surface Analysis Jan 19 at 6 pm	Surface Analysis Jan 20 at 6 pm	Surface Analysis Jan 21 at 6 am
Surface Analysis Jan 21 at 6 pm	Surface Analysis Jan 22 at 6 am
Day 1 Outlook Issued Jan 19 at 2 pm	Day 1 Tornado Probabilities Issued Jan 19 at 2 pm	Day 1 Wind Damage Probabilities Issued Jan 19 at 2 pm
Day 1 Outlook Issued Jan 20 at 7 pm	Day 1 Tornado Probabilities Issued Jan 20 at 7 pm	Day 1 Wind Damage Probabilities Issued Jan 20 at 7 pm
Day 1 Outlook Issued Jan 21 at 7 am	Day 1 Tornado Probabilities Issued Jan 21 at 7 am	Day 1 Wind Damage Probabilities Issued Jan 21 at 7 am
Day 1 Outlook Issued Jan 21 at 7 pm	Day 1 Tornado Probabilities Issued Jan 21 at 7 pm	Day 1 Wind Damage Probabilities Issued Jan 21 at 7 pm
Day 1 Outlook Issued Jan 22 at 7 am	Day 1 Tornado Probabilities Issued Jan 22 at 7 am	Day 1 Wind Damage Probabilities Issued Jan 22 at 7 am
KBMX Sounding Jan 19 at 6 am	KBMX Sounding Jan 20 at 6 pm	KBMX Sounding Jan 21 at 4 am
KBMX Sounding Jan 21 at 6 pm	KBMX Sounding Jan 22 at 6 am	KBMX Sounding Jan 22 at 12 pm
Storm Reports Jan 19 Storm Reports Jan 21	Storm Reports Jan 20 Storm Reports Jan 22	Rainfall Plot 4 Day Total Ending Jan 23 7 am

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on YouTube