EF5 Hackleburg–Phil Campbell tornado, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF5

Date

April 27, 2011

Touchdown

3:05 PM CDT (20:05 UTC)

Lifted

5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)

On the ground

155 minutes

Path length

132.0 miles (212.4 km)

Path width

2,200 yards (2012 m)

Deaths

72

Injuries

145

Property damage

$1.3 billion

Counties

Marion, Franklin, Lawrence, Morgan, Lincoln and Franklin counties

Touchdown point

34.104, -88.148

Lift-off point

35.086, -86.151

Record number

1104271405-01

347 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF5. The highest wind the damage implies is 201 mph.

• Debris thrown NNE from home with roof removed.
• At least 20 homes with entire homes structure destroyed. Debris not blown from slabs. Damage path hard to determine.
• Piggly Wiggly, Dollar General, and a couple of other smaller stores in strip mall. Large sections completely destroyed.
• Large hardwood uprooted and debarked. Coincident with EF3+ damage to homes.

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 powerful storm system roared across the Southeast United States on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. In the wake of this system, hundreds of people were left injured and/or homeless, along with approximately 100 people who lost their lives in the northern Alabama area alone. Some of the devastation was literally unimaginable with countless homes, neighborhoods and even portions of cities or towns either partially or completely destroyed. This storm system would be responsible for one of the largest and deadliest tornado outbreaks to ever impact much of the southeastern region.| |The powerful storm system that affected the National Weather Service, Huntsville service area would actually occur in three separate waves of severe weather that day. The first occurred during the early morning hours of April 27, 2011 roughly between the hours of 2 AM and 8 AM CDT, while the second occurred during the late-morning to early afternoon period. The third and most devastating wave occurred during the afternoon hours on Wednesday, with some of the most violent and destructive tornadoes to affect the central Tennessee Valley area in recent decades.| |The worst areas impacted by these storms included the towns of Phil Campbell and Oak Grove in eastern Franklin County Alabama, Mt. Hope in western Lawrence County and the Tanner Community in eastern Limestone County. Along a line connecting these areas tracked an EF5 tornado with peak winds around 210 mph, the strongest and most violent on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. ||Other areas impacted by the storms include the city of Cullman, where extensive damage occurred to buildings in the downtown area, and to the town of Fairview, both of which are located in Cullman County. Downstream, further significant damage occurred to the Ruth and Oak Grove communities in Marshall County. In addition, the communities of Rainsville and Sylvania along with the towns of Henagar and Ider in DeKalb County were severely impacted. Fatalities in DeKalb County alone numbered at least 33 people. Furthermore, the towns of Flat Rock, Higdon and Pisgah in Jackson County sustained incredible damage. The tornadoes that affected these areas were rated as an EF4 with maximum winds near 190 mph.||In most of these areas alone, numerous people lost their lives. These represent just several of the communities and towns impacted by the events of April 27, 2011. While the majority of the analysis and survey work conducted by the National Weather Service, Huntsville and its partners have been completed, there will undoubtedly be countless research studies conducted by both academia and operational personnel in order to further evaluate and understand the complex processes associated with this near unprecedented severe weather outbreak.

A tornado initially touched down west of Hamilton in southwest Marion County and moved northeast where it caused devastating damage to the city of Hackleburg. The tornado continued into Franklin County and tracked through Lawrence, Morgan, Limestone, and Madison Counties in Alabama. The tornado continued into Lincoln County Tennessee and finally dissipated in Franklin County Tennessee (See Storm Data Huntsville). The average path width of the tornado while in Marion County was 0.5 mile (880 yds). The tornado touched down west of AL Hwy 19 near Sipsey Creek and moved northeast and crossed Corridor X/Future Interstate 22. Here it caused significant tree damage. The tornado strengthened north of Hamilton and caused roof damage to at least one home. The storm strengthened further as it approached US Hwy 43, southwest of Hackleburg, to a violent EF4 rating with winds estimated at 170 mph. The tornado tracked parallel to US Hwy 43 toward Hackleburg and strengthened more to an EF5 with winds up to 210 mph, as its path widened to 0.75 mile (1320 yds). Several subdivisions and businesses, Hackleburg High School, Middle School, and Elementary School, and the Wrangler Plant were destroyed. Vehicles were tossed up to 200 yards. One well built home with 4 brick sides was completely leveled and the debris from the home was tossed over 40 yards to the north. The tornado moved northeast of Hackleburg and continued to parallel US Hwy 43. It crossed into Franklin County just east of the highway. Along the damage path in Marion County, thousands of trees were downed, several hundred structures were damaged, and at least 100 of these structures were completely destroyed as many homes were leveled. Eighteen fatalities are attributed to this tornado in Marion County, as well as numerous injuries.

A violent long track tornado continued it's path from Marion County into southern Franklin County north of Hackleburg. Significant devastation occurred throughout the city of Phil Campbell. Prolific damage was noted from the intersection of CR 51 and Alabama Highway 237, to the intersection of CR 81 and CR 75. Within a two mile corridor of either side of the railroad tracks the damage was significant. Within this corridor, several well constructed houses were destroyed. Along Bonner Street, multiple block homes were leveled to the ground with the block foundations destroyed. A twenty-five foot section of pavement was sucked up and scattered. Chunks of the pavement were found in a home over 1/3 of a mile down the road. The damage in this area was consistent with EF-5 damage. ||In addition, at least three churches along the path sustained significant damage. One church in Phil Campbell was completely destroyed with only the slab remaining.||Multiple mobile homes throughout the path were completely destroyed, and their mangled frames were tossed 25 to 50 yards. Cars were tossed and destroyed throughout the path of the tornado, with one car wrapped around a debarked tree in Phil Campbell. All along the path length, thousands of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped. Hundreds of trees were also debarked and twisted, and had only stubs of the largest branches remaining. EF-5 damage continued similarly northeast from Phil Campbell, roughly along County Roads 81 and 82 toward the community of Oak Grove.||In Oak Grove, the tornado may have reached a relative maximum in intensity well into the EF-5 category as the damage was slightly more intense and the path width was at a maximum of greater than one mile. A large swath of complete devastation was noted in Oak Grove along County Roads 38 and Smith Lane. A large well-constructed home with extensive anchoring was razed with debris carried well away from the site. A Corvette sports car was mangled and thrown 641 feet (measured). A block home next door was also disintegrated. Along Smith Lane a block home was wiped out and the only remains of a nearby chicken house was a small piece of a metal truss. In this same area, the tree damage was significant and a large percentage of trees were stripped bare.

The violent tornado continued to track northeast from Franklin County into Lawrence County as an EF-5 near the Mt. Hope area where significant devastation was incurred to single family homes and a restaurant. Nothing but the foundation and a pile of debris remained in this area, and a small portion of the restaurant foundation buckled. Thousands of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped, with a significant number of trees twisted and debarked with only stubs of branches remaining. Many mobile homes were also destroyed with the frames mangled, and a single family home was completely destroyed with the walls and contents strewn over a hundred yards. Further northeast the damage was slightly less intense, with more trees snapped and twisted as the tornado reached Highway 24. At this location multiple chicken houses were completely destroyed with much of the debris wrapped around debarked trees. TVA high voltage power line trusses were also destroyed at this location. As the tornado continued northeast more significant damage occurred in and around the Langtown community north of Moulton. On the west side of Alabama Highway 33, several homes sustained significant damage with roofs missing or only interior rooms remaining. A nearby store and gas station also sustained significant damage. The tornado strengthened again to a high end EF-4 as it moved over County Roads 214 and 298, where multiple houses and mobile homes were completely destroyed. Several cars were tossed into fields and wrapped around trees along County Road 291 and 292. One vehicle was tossed into a large hardwood tree that was also debarked. Tree and mobile home damage continued along County Roads 217 and 222, where a handful of large high tension TVA power poles were destroyed. Sustained EF-4 damage continued northeast towards Alabama Highway 20, where a restaurant was completely destroyed and two single family houses were significantly damaged. Tree damage continued into extreme northeastern Morgan County.

The deaths

59 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.

6 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:59 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:45 UTC and running to 01:28 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 0.45 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.

Courtland (9A4), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:05 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

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.