Albany, Georgia, EF3 Tornado Traveled At Least 70 Miles; January 21-23, 2017 Outbreak Among Largest on Record in Winter

The Jan. 21-23, 2017 tornado outbreak was one of the largest outbreaks on record not only for January, but for any winter month, featuring one of the longer tornado tracks on record, according to data from the National Weather Service.

(MORE: Where January Tornadoes Occur | Tornado Central)

Storm surveys done jointly by the National Weather Service offices in Peachtree City, Georgia, and Tallahassee, Florida, found an EF3 tornado that ravaged parts of Albany, Georgia, on January 22 was on the ground for an hour and 12 minutes, tearing an almost 71-mile path through parts of five Georgia counties.

This continuous, long tornado path is quite rare in the historical record since 1950, according to Alex Lamers, a meteorologist and program coordination office with NOAA, formerly a staff meteorologist at NWS-Tallahassee.

Lamers also noted only 26 tornadoes in the U.S. from 1995 through 2015 had a maximum width larger than the Albany tornado (1.25 miles wide).

The NWS damage survey noted severe tree damage along the entire path, with "90 to 100 percent of the trees in the path uprooted or snapped."

A portion of a Proctor and Gamble plant in Dougherty County collapsed, and a concrete block church was demolished, suggesting estimated winds speeds reached 150 mph. 

One of Winter's Most Prolific Outbreaks

Over a roughly 48-hour period from the morning of Jan. 21 through Jan. 23, 80 tornadoes have been confirmed by National Weather Service damage surveys in eight southern states from Texas and Arkansas to Florida to South Carolina.

According to data from The Weather Channel severe weather expert, Dr. Greg Forbes, this outbreak spawned the second largest number of tornadoes for any January outbreak, topped only the January 21-22, 1999 outbreak.

This was also the third largest tornado outbreak on record for any winter month of December, January or February in reliable records dating to 1950. The infamous Super Tuesday 2008 outbreak also exceeded the count from the Jan. 2017 outbreak.

The January 2017 U.S. tornado count reached 134 by the end of the month, the second highest total for any January on record since 1950, and only the second time that count has topped 100 in January, according to Forbes. January 1999 had an incredible 212 tornadoes. 

To put this in perspective, January 2017 has seen more tornadoes than an average July (20-year average from 1996-2015 is 112).

More Outbreak Details 

At least 22 deaths are being blamed on severe weather across the Deep South and Gulf Coast.

(NEWS: Latest Severe Impacts)

Sadly, the tornado death toll now tops the toll from all of 2016, and is the deadliest January for tornadoes in the U.S. since 1969.

A deadly EF3 tornado touched down in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, early on Jan. 21, which caused considerable damage and killed four people.

In Georgia, 41 tornadoes were confirmed from January 21-22, by far and away the largest two-day outbreak in the state on record dating to the mid-20th century. The previous two-day record was 25 tornadoes in September 15-16, 2004, during Hurricane Ivan.

According to Keith Stellman, meteorologist-in-charge of the NWS office in Peachtree City, Georgia, the previous record number of Georgia tornadoes in any entire month of January from 1952-2013 was 15 in 1972. 

Twelve deaths are being blamed on a tornado (or tornadoes) that struck Thomas, Brooks, Berrien County and Cook Counties in Georgia during the early morning on Jan. 22.

At least a 15-mile non-continuous path was found near Tennille in Washington County from EF1 tornadoes, according to a NWS-Peachtree City survey. Three separate tornadoes were found, with the greatest path being 9 miles. 

Seventeen tornadoes have been confirmed in Alabama.

An EF2 tornado damaged two dozen structures near Gilbertown in Choctaw County, Jan. 21. The next day, an EF1 tornado touched down near Opelika. 

Nine tornadoes were confirmed in Louisiana during this outbreak.

Five homes were damaged in Natchez, Louisiana, from an EF2 tornado, there. Two mobile homes were rolled and destroyed by another EF2 tornado in Bossier Parish.

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

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

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.

Strangely enough, rather intense low pressure over the South associated with this storm system took on an eye-like feature, and lead to non-thunderstorm wind damage in Houston and San Antonio on Jan. 22. At least 30,000 were without power in the Houston metro area from these damaging winds at one time.

This impressive system set the January low pressure record for North Little Rock, Arkansas, 29.33 inches of mercury, besting the previous record from Jan. 18, 1982.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Severe Weather in the South, Jan. 2017 (PHOTOS)