EF1 tornado, Demopolis to Arcola, Alabama, April 24, 2010

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF1

Date

April 24, 2010

Touchdown

11:19 AM CDT (16:19 UTC)

Lifted

11:35 AM CDT (16:35 UTC)

On the ground

16 minutes

Path length

8.2 miles (13.1 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$170,000

Counties

Marengo, Hale and Greene counties

Touchdown point

32.525, -87.840

Lift-off point

32.624, -87.764

Record number

1004241019-01

A deepening storm system and associated cold front brought widespread severe thunderstorms, including at least 8 tornadoes, to central Alabama.

The tornado touched down at the City Landing area of Demopolis, and from there moved on a north-northeast path. At City Landing, at least 20 people witnessed the tornado and ran for shelter. At least 20 vehicles were damaged, many with windows blown out. Tool boxes were ripped off the back of a few trucks and were thrown into other vehicles, and many trees were snapped off in the area. The tornado then crossed US-43 and moved into a rural part of the county, before crossing the Black Warrior River and moving into Greene County.

The tornado that had touched down in Marengo County, near the city of Demopolis, moved into Greene County. On its northeast path, it produced sporadic tree damage, and stayed mostly in forested areas. Just before crossing the Black Warrior River for the second time, it struck the Greene County Steam Plant, where 2 men were injured when they were blown down by the wind. A few small buildings were damaged in the same area, and a tractor trailer rig was blown over and moved at least 40 feet. The tornado then moved into Hale County.

After touching down in Marengo County, and moving across a portion of Greene County, the Demopolis Tornado crossed the Black Warrior River for a second time and moved into Hale County. Within Hale County, the tornado stayed over primarily wooded terrain, and caused sporadic tree damage.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

56 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:23 UTC, 56 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:07 UTC and running to 18:19 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:36 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:21 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.