The result of a mid-level trough moving through, moisture and the presence of a strong low-level jet aided in the development of numerous severe and tornadic thunderstorms.

[2] The same storm produced a long-lived EF3 tornado that moved through or near Old Kingston, Titus, Equality, and Lake Martin, resulting in seven fatalities and several injuries in Autauga County alone.

Elsewhere, other tornadoes caused damage in Sumter and Mobile counties in Alabama, as well as parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and the Carolinas.

On January 11, the Storm Prediction Center outlined a level 1/Marginal risk across the Mid-South valid for the overnight and early morning hours.

Although the environment was initially capped, conditions were expected to become more conducive for severe weather given the approach of a mid-level trough and a gradually moistening airmass.

Here, numerical weather prediction models indicated the presence of 6.5 C/km mid-level lapse rates and 500-1000 J/kg convective available potential energy (CAPE) values supportive of transient supercells and bowing segments.

The same storm that hit Selma prompted tornado emergencies for Autauga,[8] Elmore, Chilton, Coosa,[9] and Tallapoosa[10] counties before crossing the Alabama–Georgia border to continue northeast into Georgia.

The now strong tornado then crossed SR 219 as it entered the southwest side of Selma, causing significant damage along Old Orville Road.

A couple of older residences that were built on brick piling foundations collapsed, cars were flipped, signs were destroyed, and numerous power poles were snapped.

Apartment buildings were also badly damaged, and debris from structures was strewn across streets, or left tangled in power lines or wrapped around trees.

Past the downtown area, the tornado weakened slightly to mid-range EF2 strength as it crossed Marie Foster Street and moved through neighborhoods in the northeastern part of Selma, where many homes and apartment buildings had roofs and exterior walls torn off, and many trees and power lines were downed.

Some re-intensification was observed as the tornado then impacted a small residential area along Parkway Drive, where a few houses had roofs torn off with some collapse of exterior walls noted.

It inflicted EF0 damage to a house and dissipated as it crossed SR 140 to the southeast of Burnsville at 12:31 p.m. CST (18:31 UTC), just before reaching the Autauga County line.

Just to the northeast, the tornado crossed Sandy Ridge Road, where numerous double-wide and single-wide mobile homes were completely obliterated, more vehicles were tossed, and many trees were shredded and partially debarked.

The tornado continued to throw vehicles considerable distances, including one pickup truck that had its cab separated from the bed, while many trees were snapped or sheared off.

The tornado weakened slightly to high-end EF2 intensity after crossing the road, tearing the roofs off of two site-built homes and destroying a large outbuilding structure.

The tornado then became slightly larger and re-intensified back to EF2 strength as it crossed over US 231, snapping many large trees and inflicting heavy roof damage to a home along County Road 304.

Just past this point, the tornado rapidly intensified again as it approached Equality, and a large swath of trees was completely mowed down along McKissick Road.

The tornado then widened some more as it continued northeastward, causing EF2-level tree damage before strengthening back to EF3 intensity along County Roads 14 and 18 northwest of Equality.

Several vehicles were moved or flipped, numerous trees were snapped, and a few site-built homes sustained major structural damage, including a poorly anchored house that was completely leveled.

Many trees were downed, and homes in neighborhoods in The Club at Shoal Creek area and along North Pine Hill Drive sustained EF1 to EF2 damage.

Maintaining its strength, the tornado then moved into Experiment, an unincorporated community located on the north side of Griffin near the University of Georgia campus.

A Hobby Lobby had a large portion of its roof torn off, and also sustained partial collapse of masonry exterior walls on the northeast side of the building.

The tornado then quickly intensified to high-end EF2 intensity as it crossed SR 16, and a well-built home in this area had severe roof and structural damage, while many large trees were snapped or uprooted as well.

[36][13][62] As this tornado passed south of Worthville, it quickly intensified back to EF2 strength, causing widespread significant damage to trees and homes in several neighborhoods along SR 36 west of Jackson Lake.

Maintaining EF2 intensity, the tornado then moved through the southern part Newton County and caused additional major damage to houses in several neighborhoods along the shore of Jackson Lake, both west of and along SR 212.

The tornado then became weak, damaging more trees at EF0 intensity as it approached and crossed SR 11, before dissipating near Margery Lake at 5:01 pm EST (22:01 UTC).

An indirect fatality was attributed to this tornado the following day when a state transportation worker was knocked out of a bucket truck by a falling tree limb while trying to restore powerlines after the storm in Jasper County.

This tornado was also responsible for an indirect fatality the following day when a lineman was knocked out of a bucket truck after being struck by a large tree branch while attempting to restore powerlines in Jasper County.

[72] Approximately 37,000 people in Alabama and more than 78,000 in Georgia were without power by the evening of January 12, figures which included but were not limited to severe weather outages.