EF3 tornado, Tishabee to Marvel, Alabama, April 27, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)

Lifted

6:55 PM CDT (23:55 UTC)

On the ground

85 minutes

Path length

72.1 miles (116.1 km)

Path width

1,760 yards (1609 m)

Deaths

7

Injuries

50

Property damage

$36 million

Counties

Greene, Hale and Bibb counties

Touchdown point

32.615, -88.054

Lift-off point

33.152, -86.990

Record number

1104271630-01

104 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 155 mph.

• The damage was worse on other areas of the Mercedes plant property.
• A section of the Mercedes plant building susatined roof damage.
• .Large swath of straight line winds to the south of the tornado damage path. Almost all of it is uprooted trees pointing almost due east.
• Numerous trees snapped off.

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

A powerful storm system crossed the Southeast United States on Wednesday, April 27, 2011, resulting in a large and deadly tornado outbreak. This epic event broke the record for number of tornadoes in a day for the state of Alabama, becoming the most significant tornado outbreak in the state���s history. ||Central Alabama had two rounds of severe weather that day. During the early morning hours, a Quasi-Linear Convective System quickly moved across the northern half of the National Weather Service, Birmingham county warning area. Straight line winds of 90 mph (78kts) or greater and 11 tornadoes lead to widespread damage and power outages. During the afternoon, long-lived supercell thunderstorms produced long-track, strong and violent tornadoes. Destruction and loss of life across many towns and communities was devastating. ||The hardest hit areas included Shottsville and Hackleburg, both in Marion County, where winds of 160 mph and 210 mph respectively, caused unimagineable damage. Cordova, in Walker County, was hit twice; by a tornado along the Quasi-Linear Convective System during the early morning hours and again in the afternoon by a long-track EF4 tornado. A long track tornado moved across the city of Tuscaloosa and the western suburbs of Birmingham, resulting in the complete destruction of whole neighborhoods and numerous injuries and fatalities in those heavily populated areas. The same parent supercell produced another violent tornado in east Central Alabama as it tracked across St. Clair and Calhoun Counties, resulting in additional fatalities and incredible damage to a number of neighborhoods. Another violent EF4 tornado tracked across portions of Elmore and Tallapoosa Counties, including Lake Martin, destroying numerous homes and a large section of a mobile home park. ||Most of the violent tornadoes from this day were captured on video by a number of people, including storm spotters and chasers, as well as numerous television news crews and remotely controlled web-enabled video cameras. This allowed unprecedented coverage and viewing of this historic event in real time from people worldwide.

A tornado touched down in southwestern Greene county and moved northeast through central Hale and Bibb counties, before lifting near Marvel in far northeast Bibb county. The tornado touched down near the Tombigbee River, west of Tishabee on CR 69, and intensified to an EF2 rating with winds of 120 mph. As the tornado moved northeast, hundreds of trees were downed, a barn damaged, two small churches destroyed, and several mobile homes destroyed. The tornado crossed US Hwy 43 near Thornhill, destroying a large metal outbuilding and causing major roof and wall damage to several brick buildings. At least two minor injuries were noted along the path in Greene county. The tornado crossed the Black Warrior River and into Hale county east of Lake Mark Hanna.

A tornado touched down in southwestern Greene County near Tishabee, and moved northeast through central Hale and Bibb Counties. The tornado then lifted near Marvel in far northeast Bibb County. The tornado crossed the Black Warrior River and into Hale County west of Sawyerville. The tornado crossed AL Route 14, just north of Sawyerville, intensifying to an EF3 rating with winds of 145 mph. As the tornado continued northeast, it crossed CR 18, CR 21, AL Hwy 69 south of Harper Hill, and CR 29 east of Ingram. Extensive structural damage was noted in the these locations, which resulted in at least 40 injuries and 6 fatalities. Numerous mobile homes and single family homes and one church were damaged or destroyed. Thousands of trees were knocked down. The tornado moved into the Talladega National Forest near Ingram, where it caused significant tree damage to the Bibb County line.

A tornado touched down in southwestern Greene County near Tishabee, and moved northeast through central Hale and Bibb Counties, before it lifted near Marvel in far northeast Bibb County. The tornado moved into the Talladega National Forest near Ingram and crossed into Bibb County north of Mertz. The tornado tracked northeastward where it caused significant tree damage in the national forest. The tornado moved through Eoline and caused significant structural damage consistent with an EF3 rating and winds of 145 mph. Numerous mobile homes and single family homes sustained minor to major damage. A dozen mobile homes and single family homes were destroyed. In addition, the Eoline Fire Dept and another business were destroyed. One fatality occurred in a vehicle near the fire dept. At least 10 other injuries were noted. The tornado continued northeast and crossed AL Hwy 5, south of West Blocton where it weakened slightly to an EF2 with winds of 125 mph. Several mobile homes and single family homes sustained major damage or were destroyed near CR 26. Along the path, thousands of trees were downed. The tornado continued to weaken and lifted just northeast of Marvel.

The deaths

7 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

40 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:50 UTC, 40 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:45 UTC and running to 03:00 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 19:12 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), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:28 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

209 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 210 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.