During the early morning hours on January 23, 2012, a large and intense tornado, commonly known as the Center Point Tornado, struck the northeastern part of the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, particularly the cities of Center Point and

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

.National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Event Database * * The

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

rated the most intense damage caused by the tornado EF3 on the

Enhanced Fujita scale The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated EF-Scale) is a scale that rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage a tornado causes. It is used in the United States and France, among other countries. The EF scale is also unofficially ...

. During the tornado's 22-minute lifespan, it reached EF3 intensity three times, damaged or destroyed hundreds of structures, killed one person, and injured at least 75 others. In Center Point, the tornado damaged and destroyed buildings of the Center Point Elementary School, causing millions in damage. Residential insurance losses from Center Point and Clay were estimated at being up to $30 million.

Meteorological synopsis

An upper-level

low pressure In meteorology, a low-pressure area (LPA), low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. It is the opposite of a high-pressure area. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclem ...

system developed across the

Central United States The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern United States, Eastern and Western United States, Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau's d ...

and tracked eastward. This low pressure created a

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface Trough (meteorology), trough of Low-pressure area, low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropica ...

in Arkansas, which turned into a

squall line A squall line, or quasi-linear convective system (QLCS), is a line of thunderstorms, often forming along or ahead of a cold front. In the early 20th century, the term was used as a synonym for cold front (which often are accompanied by abrupt a ...

west of Alabama. As the cold front entered Alabama, several individual

supercell A supercell is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, a deep, persistently rotating updraft. Due to this, these storms are sometimes referred to as rotating thunderstorms. Of the four classifications of thunderstorms (su ...

s developed ahead of it. These supercells produced several tornadoes across Alabama, including the Center Point–Clay EF3 tornado. At 2:45 AM CST, minutes before the tornado touched down, the

Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...

issued a

tornado watch A tornado watch ( SAME code: TOA) is a statement issued by weather forecasting agencies to advise the public that atmospheric conditions in a given region may lead to the development of tornadoes within (or near) the region over a period of seve ...

across Central Alabama, which included a high risk/80% change for tornadoes and a moderate risk/50% chance for significant, EF2-EF5 intensity tornadoes.

Tornado summary

The tornado touched down northeast of Tarrant, first causing damage to roofs and walls in several homes and businesses. Shortly after touching down, the tornado quickly intensified EF2 intensity, as a warehouse sustained severe roof damage and some exterior wall collapse. As the tornado traveled northeast toward Center Point, several businesses sustained heavy damage or were destroyed. The tornado entered Center Point at EF2 intensity as it grew to its peak width of . The most extreme damage in Center Point was to the Center Point Elementary School, which had portions of its roof completely ripped off. One building of the school was destroyed by the tornado. The

National Centers for Environmental Information The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is a U.S. government agency that manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data. The current director is Deke Arndt. NCEI is operate ...

reported that the school buildings sustained $13 million (2012 USD) in structural damage and an additional $5 million (2012 USD) in damage for losses inside the buildings. The school buildings were later demolished due to the tornado's damage. Continuing northeast, the tornado damaged or destroyed numerous businesses along 24th Street and Center Point Parkway. The tornado weakened to EF1 intensity as it crossed Sweeney Valley Road, located to the east of Chalkville. Here, several homes sustained minor roof damage, with winds estimated to have been at . To the northeast of Chalkville, the tornado rapidly intensified to mid-EF3 intensity as it struck the George Brook Neighborhood. Here, dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed, with the worst damage being rated EF3 with winds estimated at . Entering the city of Clay, the tornado to a width of , continuing at mid-EF3 intensity, as it crossed Old Springville Road and struck Harness Circle in the Northwoods neighborhood. Along Harness Circle, two homes were demolished at EF3 intensity and numerous other homes were damaged. In one of the destroyed homes, Christina Nicole Heichelbech, a 16-year-old girl was killed while in the process of trying to take cover. The National Weather Service rated both of the completely destroyed homes EF3 with winds estimated at . Continuing northeast, the tornado crossed a ridge, striking the Legacy neighborhood. Numerous homes in the neighborhood sustained moderate to minor damage. As the tornado crossed Plymouth Rock Drive, several homes were completely destroyed at EF3 intensity, with winds estimated to have been at . The tornado began to weaken as it crossed Interstate 59, where several homes sustained high-end EF1 damage and numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado lifted between Hidden Valley Drive and Country Living Circle, after having been on the ground for 22 minutes. Officially, the

reported that the tornado killed one person, injured 75 others, and damaged or destroyed 231 structures, along a path of . The

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

did not list a damage total for this tornado's entire track, but the Alabama Forestry Commission estimated that the merchantable timber losses were at least $132,000 and damage to the Center Point Elementary School was at least $18 million (in 2012 USD). The Voss law firm estimated that residential insurance claims would be up to $30 million (2012 USD). A year after the tornado, the Clay City Council named January 23 as Christina Heichelbech Day to commemorate Heichelbech's life.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2012 Center Point-Clay tornado F3, EF3 and IF3 tornadoes Tornadoes of 2012 Tornadoes in Alabama

Meteorological synopsis

Tornado summary

See also

Notes

References