An impressive January tornado outbreak occurred across the southern Mississippi Valley from the evening of January 22nd into the early morning of January 23rd.

Multiple tornadoes were reported in several states including Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and especially hard hit Alabama.  8 tornadoes, including a few with rather long tracks were confirmed in Alabama causing at least 2 fatalities and over 100 injuries. The two strongest tornadoes were surveyed by the NWS and confirmed EF-3s with 140-150 MPH winds. One of these powerful tornadoes crossed through Jefferson County, AL, just north of Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. The track was eerily similar to the path taken by the devastating EF-4 tornado on April 27th of last year. Though this outbreak was nothing like that of April 27th when 63 tornadoes caused 252 deaths, it was still notable and dangerous not only because of the unusual time of year*, but also for the time of night. Even with the advance tornado warnings that were provided, you can bet that many people were sound asleep when these severe storms came roaring in after Midnight on the 23rd.

*To exemplify how extraordinary this January outbreak was, the past 3 years have averaged only 17 tornadoes in the U.S. during the month of January, and the southeast U.S. is the most favored region for these to occur. While this outbreak has largely contributed to the outstanding 48 tornadoes thus far this January, there is no hard evidence that this implies another terrible Tornado season is on the way this spring. What may actually suggest this though is the presence of a La Nina regime once again, which just like last year is notorious for producing spring weather patterns favorable for tornado outbreaks.