1 ESE Bessemer - 2 SSE Ross Bridge The tornado first touched down on Dusty Lane, causing damage mainly to weakened or shallow rooted trees. The tornado crossed Morgan Road and continued east across an inaccessible forested area, crossing Shades Creek and then passing just behind The Oaks on Parkwood Blvd. Scores of trees were either uprooted or snapped in the area, and minor structural damage was noted at The Oaks. The tornado continued eastward and reached its peak intensity as it crossed Parkwood Road just west of Alabama Highway 150, with a dozen or so very large hardwoods uprooted, causing damage to homes and vehicles. The tornado was also estimated to be at its maximum width of about 350 yards in this area as it crossed AL 150. The tornado narrowed and weakened as it crossed another area of forested land, before snapping an older tree along Ross Bridge Parkway just west of Deer Valley Elementary School, then skirted the north end of the campus before ascending Shades Crest Mountain, then rapidly dissipating as it crossed Shades Crest Road. Special thanks to Jefferson County EMA for their assistance doing damage assessments in the forested area by UAS. Start: 33.3637/-86.9428 End: 33.3673/-86.8610

NWS EF Scale: F0

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southern Jefferson County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 80 mph. The tornado first touched down on Dusty Lane, causing damage mainly to weakened or shallow rooted trees. The tornado crossed Morgan Road and continued east across an inaccessible forested area, crossing Shades Creek and then passing just behind The Oaks on Parkwood Blvd. Scores of trees were either uprooted or snapped in the area, and minor structural damage was noted at The Oaks. The tornado continued eastward and reached its peak intensity as it crossed Parkwood Road just west of Alabama Highway 150, with a dozen or so very large hardwoods uprooted, causing damage to homes and vehicles. The tornado was also estimated to be at its maximum width of about 350 yards in this area as it crossed Alabama Highway 150. The tornado narrowed and weakened as it crossed another area of forested land, before snapping an older tree along Ross Bridge Parkway just west of Deer Valley Elementary School. The tornado skirted the north end of the school before ascending Shades Crest Mountain, then rapidly dissipated as it crossed Shades Crest Road.

A fast moving and intense short wave trough moving along the Gulf Coast states produced a closed surface low over southern Louisiana during the late afternoon hours on December 13th. The deepening surface low advanced northeast along the I-20 corridor during the overnight hours. A strongly sheared and low instability air mass resulted in a single tornado and several reports of wind damage across Jefferson and Shelby counties.