The National Weather Service released a Preliminary Damage Survey report on the tornado that hit the Graceville community.
The NWS estimated that the tornado began in the south western corner of Jackson County, center to the Bonifay, Chipley and Graceville area. It began to move in a northeastern direction through the Graceville area continuing to cross into the Browntown region before moving northeast into Cottonwood.
The tornado was given an EF Rating of 2 and had an estimated peak winds of 130 miles per hour. It is estimated that the tornado traveled a length of 35.7 miles with a max width of 1000 yards. There were no injuries but one fatality reported in the Cottonwood area.
The survey summary is included in its entirety below:
This tornado touched down in a swampy area, just east of Holmes Creek in northwest Jackson County. The tornado initially uprooted and snapped several softwood and hardwood trees, along Hickshill Road and in addition, it damaged an outbuilding there. The tornado continued northeast, damaging more hardwood and softwood trees along Piano Road. The first structure to be impacted by this tornado was a double-wide manufactured home on the northern side of Piano Road. Additional softwood and hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted along Danford Bay Road. Tree damage continued along Orchid Road, Damascus Church Road and Layton Road as the tornado continued to progress northeastward. An outbuilding was damaged along Orchid Road, and a single-family home suffered significant roof damage along Layton Road. The tornado then destroyed two ninety foot, seventy-year-old concrete silos. Damage was found along the entire length of Everett Road which was composed of the snapping and uprooting of trees, along with damage to an outbuilding and a mobile home succumbing to window damage. More trees were damaged along Heislar Road and Peanut Road as the tornado continued its northeastward trek. A single-family home on Peanut Road suffered significant roof damage. When the tornado reached Shiloh Church Loop, a single- family home suffered significant roof damage. The tornado continued to move northeast across Highway 2 where more softwood and hardwood trees were uprooted and snapped. Most of the damage to this point is classified as EF-1. Before the tornado crossed into Alabama, it damaged the roof of a small business on US-231.
After crossing into Houston County Alabama, the tornado produced a continuous swath of damage on either side of State Line Road all the way towards the city of Cottonwood. This is also consistent of EF-1 damage. The first instance of EF-2 damage was when the tornado approached Cottonwood proper, along Ramer Loop rolling a single-wide mobile home, destroying it, despite it being well strapped. As the tornado moved through downtown Cottonwood, numerous small businesses sustained damage, ranging from blown out windows, roof damage and in one case the failure of the front-facing brick facade. Additional EF-2 damage occurred when the tornado removed the entire roof of a large two-story home. The tornado continued its northeastward jog, leaving Cottonwood proper, and commenced to destroy a two-story Moose Lodge that was composed of cinder-blocks resulting in another instance of EF-2 damage. The most significant tree damage noted on this survey occurred when the tornado paralleled Dyers Road, thus snapping numerous hardwood and softwood trees. The most significant damage along this northeastward path occurred on September Road where a double-wide home was completely destroyed, and resulted in one fatality. As the tornado continued to move northeast to across Whitaker Road and Creek Church Road, EF-1 tree damage was noted. The tornado caused mainly EF-0 damage to softwood and hardwood trees along Green Frog Road and Ed Tolar Road. One last structural damage occurred to a single-family home where it caused significant roof damage before lifting near the Chattahoochee River. In summary, while most damage was EF-1, there were instances of EF-2 damage with the max wind of 130 mph.Thanks to Houston County and Jackson County Emergency Management for assistance with this damage survey.
The NWS surveyed a total of 10 tornadoes that was believed to have stemmed from the January 9, 2024 weather event.
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