EF2 tornado, Boykin to Andalusia, Alabama, April 15, 2011

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 mph

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

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 15, 2011

Touchdown

12:08 AM CDT (05:08 UTC)

Lifted

12:42 AM CDT (05:42 UTC)

On the ground

34 minutes

Path length

22.9 miles (36.9 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$4.7 million

Counties

Conecuh, Escambia and Covington counties

Touchdown point

31.203, -86.860

Lift-off point

31.280, -86.482

Record number

1104152308-01

25 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• Single wide home with walls separated from base. Roof blown completely off.
• Back and front exterior walls collapsed and entire roof blown off.
• Home is 30 yards south of core circulation center. Took all surface roofing material above plywood sheathing off western exposure of roof. Numerous pines snapped mid-trunk or lower just 30 yards north of house.
• All of the trees in a 70 yard wide path were snapped mid-trunk or lower. All limbs stripped out of trunks remaining. Trees are at core of circulation.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Numerous supercell thunderstorms developed in the late morning through the evening hours across Mississippi and Alabama. A series of long track tornadic supercell thunderstorms moved out of southeast Mississippi in the late morning, and crossed southwest Alabama in the late morning through the afternoon and evening hours. In southwest Alabama, the tornadoes missed the larger populated towns and communities, but did produce significant damage to numerous homes in rural areas. Several injuries were reported with 3 fatalities in Deer Park, Alabama (Washington County) from an EF-3 tornado during the early evening hours. Widespread damage to timber along several 200 to 600 yard-wide tornado paths resulted in significant losses to the timber industry. The Alabama Forestry Commission estimated timber losses in southwest Alabama to be near 7.3 million dollars.

Tornado touched down approximately one half mile west of Damascus Road and quickly widened to near 300 yards and strengthened to EF-2 intensity. Near and along Damascus Road the tornado destroyed one wood frame home, and severely damaged or affected several other brick homes and adjacent manufactured homes. The tornado rolled one single-wide manufactured home onto its roof trapping the occupants inside for several minutes. Several minor injuries were reported. The tornado continued east crossing Eddie Jackson Road, Hoomesville Road, and Brooklyn Road where trees were snapped or uprooted along a 200 yard wide path. The tornado continued moving east into Conecuh County. Alabama Forestry Commission estimated the timber losses along this tornado track to be near 2.1 million dollars. Property damage to homes was estimated to be near 500,000 dollars.

The tornado continued east from the Damascus area of eastern Escambia County, Alabama, snapping or uprooting numerous hardwood and softwood trees along a 150 yard wide path. Alabama Forestry Commission estimates timber losses to be near 615,000 dollars.

The tornado continued east from extreme southeastern Conecuh County, Alabama. The tornado snapped or uprooted trees along a 150 yard wide path, producing damage to several homes, outbuildings and structures adjacent to Brooklyn Road. Several homes had significant roof damage with some having trees blown over onto them. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 29 at County Road 56 then lifted as it moved across the Covington County Arena area producing roof damage to the Kiwanis Building.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:45 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:48 UTC and running to 07:06 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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.

Andalusia (79J), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:05 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 2011 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

74 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 75 of them

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.