NWS confirms at least one tornado hit Chambers County
Published 9:00 am Friday, January 6, 2023
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By Charlotte Reames
One confirmed EF-0 tornado hit the northernmost part of Chambers County — Troup County’s Alabama neighbor— during the storm on Tuesday, according to a survey crew from the National Weather Service in Birmingham.
The tornado was categorized as EF-0 and was 80 miles an hour. It touched down in the Clacksville and Doublehead communities near County Road 235 and ended near County Road 258. The exact path length is not yet determined.
A second part of Chambers County is also being investigated for tornado activity, according to Birmingham Meteorologist-in-Charge Chris Darden.
On Thursday, two survey crews investigated the northern part of the county off Route 431, near County Roads 160, 437 and 258, and further north near the county line off County Roads 237 and 258.
Five confirmed EF-1 tornadoes and one EF-2 tornado hit across central Alabama during the storm on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service of Birmingham. There was not a tornado warning issued for Troup County, but a severe thunderstorm warning was issued.
Tuesday also brought plenty of wind and rain in two different rounds of weather — one in the afternoon and one overnight into Wednesday morning.
“As of this morning, six confirmed [tornadoes in Alabama] and that number is likely to go up,” Darden said.
The intensity of the confirmed tornadoes was relatively low.
According to Darden, most of them were ranked at EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. One EF-2 tornado in Alabama hit near Lake Jordan in Elmore County. The strongest storm so far, it reached 120 miles an hour.
“In terms of intensity, thankfully most of these were of the lower end, of the EF-0 or EF-1 variety,” Darden said.
Though the tornado activity was early in the year, Darden said that it is not necessarily unprecedented.
Though the storm could foretell an active spring, it is too early to know for sure. According to Darden, it is not uncommon for Alabama to see several events of tornado activity per year.
“It’s not unprecedented. We get tornadoes every month of the year … But I would say we’re definitely off to an early start in terms of the tornado numbers for Alabama, that’s for sure,” Darden said.
The last confirmed tornado to hit Chambers County was April 5 of last year. A brief EF-0 tornado hit the Ridge Grove community and traveled less than half a mile. An EF-0 tornado hit the Buffalo community on Oct. 10, 2020.
Before that, a EF-0 tornado hit Cusseta on Nov. 1, 2018.
With a path length of two and a half miles and winds reaching 65 miles an hour, the tornado left damage to a few manufacturing plants in the area.