One of the Largest January Tornado Outbreaks on Record Kills 20

From the early morning hours of January 21, 2017 to January 23, 2017 there were 66 confirmed tornadoes across 8 states making it the second largest January tornado outbreak on record. Second to the January 1999 outbreak that spawned 129 tornadoes. Tornadoes were seen from Texas to Georgia and Florida.

“A rare “high risk” severe weather outlook was issued on the morning of Jan. 22 by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC). This was the first high risk severe weather outlook to be issued by SPC since June 3, 2014, which gives an idea of how unusual they are, though the number of severe reports and tornadoes on Jan. 22 were less than expected.”

With these additional 66 tornadoes from this one outbreak, January 2017 has now had 113 tornadoes. Thankfully we are not expecting any active severe weather or tornadoes for the last few days of the month.

Details and Reports:

Sadly, this outbreak killed 20 people across the Gulf coast and Southeast. WE have seen more tornado deaths from this one outbreak than we saw all of 2016 from tornadoes.  The outbreak started with the deadly EF-3 tornado that tore through Hattiesburg, Mississippi in the early morning hours of January 21st that killed four people. The tornado outbreak continues throughout the day on Saturday and Sunday spawning at least 30 tornadoes alone across Georgia. You can see some of the event Summary by clicking HERE. Of the 20 deaths at least 12 of those  are being blamed on a  tornado that tore through parts of Thomas, Brooks, Berrien,  and Cook counties in Georgia.

Later that day, a  large and powerful EF-3 tornado  raced across the south side of Albany, Georgia in Doughtry County. The damage swath was 1.25 miles wide in some places with the NWS confirming EF-3 damage in Dougherty, Worth and Turner Counties. Learn How the Enhanced Fujita Scale works.  This tornado carved out over a 70 mile long path of damage to cement block structures and factories, trees, and smaller structures including mobile homes.

In Alabama 17 tornadoes have been confirmed. There was an EF-2 tornado near Gilbertown, Alabama on January 21. On January 22nd there was an EF1 tornado near the town of Opelika.

There were another 7 tornadoes in Louisiana from this outbreak. In Natchez, La a EF-2 tornado damaged 5 homes and 2 mobile homes were destroyed by another EF-2 tornado in Bosier Parish, LA.

In South Carolina, there was a EF2 tornado that carved a 13-mile path near Barnwell and Denmark and rolled a mobile home several times, injuring one woman trapped inside.

Lastly, NWS meteorologists confirmed a pair of EF1 tornadoes  had touched down in south Florida before dawn on Jan. 23, producing tree and some structural damage in both Hialeah and Miami Springs.

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