We had a lot of tornadoes in 2022 in Mobile and Baldwin counties, and hopefully no more between the time I write this and the time you read it. It was far more twisters than there have been in past years, based on NOAA storm events data and damage assessment reports.
In Mobile County, 11 tornadoes touched down; all of them were along or south of Highway 98. In Baldwin County, 10 tornadoes touched down; they were all along or south of Interstate 10. No, the highways don’t control or influence the weather — it’s just the particular weather patterns we had this year. Most of those tornadoes came in two medium tornado outbreaks where warm, moist air had moved in from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a cold front.
What explains the high tornado count for 2022? The weather patterns. More public reporting. More targets. More knowledge of when tornadoes are likely. Doppler radar upgrades and better detection. In the 10 years prior to 2022, Mobile County had a total of 19 documented tornadoes scattered throughout the county. In stark contrast, in that same 10-year period, Baldwin County had only seven tornadoes, reported only in the southern half of the county. Waterspouts from quiet weather cumulus clouds that never touch land are not designated as tornadoes.Â
All the tornadoes we had in Mobile and Baldwin counties in 2022 were classified as weak, EF-0 and EF-1, with the top wind of an EF-1 being 110 mph. Those wind speeds are common for the twisters we get surrounding Mobile Bay.
There’s no rule that says stronger tornadoes can’t and won’t happen — we’ve just been lucky. The last EF-2 tornado in either county was Christmas Day 2012 in Mobile. The last EF-3 tornado in either county was in Foley on Oct. 13, 2001.
While the combined number of tornadoes in Mobile and Baldwin counties for 2022 was large, most of the tornadoes were small and relatively brief. Several stayed on the ground for around 5 miles. About a third had tracks of around 2 miles. Half stayed on the ground for less than a half-mile. The largest tornado was about 250 yards across, while most were much smaller than a football field. In comparison, the late November EF-3 twister in Washington County was on the ground for 19 miles, with a peak width of around 500 yards. Aside from the size and strength of tornadoes, the impact is highly dependent on whether they strike wooded areas, open areas, subdivisions or mobile home parks. There likely are brief tornadoes that are never reported or detected. If a tree falls in the forest, from tornado winds, does anyone notice?
Even with our typical tornado being classified as weak, debris in the wind is what can injure and kill, with mobile home residents more at risk. Take twisters seriously.
Alan Sealls is Chief Meteorologist at NBC 15 in Mobile. He has more than a dozen Emmy awards, along with multiple Lagniappe Nappie awards for best meteorologist. Alan went viral on YouTube for coverage of Hurricane Irma, in 2017. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology from Cornell, and from FSU, respectively. Alan is a Past President of the National Weather Association, and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He teaches weather broadcasting at the University of South Alabama, and writes the Weather Things column for Lagniappe Newspaper. Before Mobile, Alan worked in Milwaukee, and Chicago.
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