Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2011

EF3 tornado, Guin to Rabbit Town, Alabama, April 27, 2011

From Guin to Rabbit Town, this EF3 tornado ran 31.8 miles across Marion and Winston counties on April 27, 2011, touching down at 5:10 PM CDT and reaching 1,320 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 25, and did $17 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF3
Date
April 27, 2011
Touchdown
5:10 PM CDT (22:10 UTC)
Lifted
5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)
On the ground
37 minutes
Path length
31.8 miles (51.2 km)
Path width
1,320 yards (1207 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
25
Property damage
$17 million
Counties
Marion and Winston counties
Touchdown point
34.029, -87.942
Lift-off point
34.304, -87.497
Record number
1104271610-01

The damage survey

291 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.

What the Weather Service recorded

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 initially touched down in southwest Marion County, near the community of Pikeville and tracked northeast. The tornado moved across southern portions of Haleyville and into Winston County, south of AL Route 129. The tornado lifted in the William B. Bankhead National Forest, north of Rabbittown. The tornado touched down along US Hwy 43, south of CR 2 where it downed hundreds of trees. The tornado moved northeast and crossed Corridor X/Future Interstate 22 east of CR 37. Here it caused tree damage consistent with an EF1 tornado and winds of 105 mph. The tornado strengthened north of Pea Ridge to an EF3 rating with winds of 150 mph. Along CR 45, west of AL Route 253, at least two mobile homes were completely destroyed and six well built homes sustained major damage or were completely destroyed. As the tornado approached US Hwy 278 near Whitehouse, several outbuildings were destroyed and a well built home was destroyed with the foundation swept clean. Several injuries were noted in this area. The tornado continued northeastward and caused mostly tree damage as it neared the Winston County line.

A tornado initially touched down in southwest Marion County, near the community of Pikeville and tracked northeast where it moved across southern portions of Haleyville and into Winston County, south of AL Route 129. The tornado lifted in the William B. Bankhead National Forest, north of Rabbittown. The tornado moved into western Winston County and caused extensive damage to businesses near the intersection of CR 75 and Dolphin Rd. As the tornado crossed southern portions of Haleyville, many homes were significantly damaged and several were destroyed. This damage was consistent with an EF3 rating and winds of 150 mph. The tornado continued to produce tree damage as it entered the Bankhead National Forest area in northern Winston County, lifting along CR 3434.

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

The forecast that day

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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 27, 3:47 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 3:47 PM CDT, 1 hour 23 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
347 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

...SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK ONGOING...

.DISCUSSION...

A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION IS CURRENTLY UNFOLDING ACROSS CENTRAL
ALABAMA...AND SUPERCELLS HAVE ERUPTED ACROSS THE NORTHERN AND
WESTERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA THIS AFTERNOON. A FEW TORNADOES HAVE
ALREADY TOUCHED DOWN...AND REPORTS OF MAJOR DAMAGE ARE STARTING TO
COME IN. THE 18Z SPECIAL SOUNDING THAT WAS PERFORMED PRESENTS A
DESTRUCTIVE SETUP...WITH 2700J/KG OF CAPE...EXTREMELY STEEP LAPSE
RATES...AND DRY AIR ALOFT. 0-3 KM HELICITY VALUES ARE ALMOST 700.
THE PARAMETERS WILL ONLY WORSEN AS WE GO THROUGHOUT THE REST OF
THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE TIME FRAME FOR THE WORST SEVERE
WEATHER WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON HOURS FOR
NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE STATE...ROUGHLY FROM 2PM TO
8PM...CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE STATE...INCLUDING THE BIRMINGHAM
METRO AREA...FROM 4PM TO 10PM...AND THE SOUTHEAST SECTIONS FROM
6PM TO 2AM. I CANNOT STRESS HOW SERIOUS THIS SITUATION IS. DO
WHATEVER YOU CAN TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE AND PROPERTY NOW...YOUR LIFE
MAY DEPEND ON IT! ALL WEATHER WILL CLEAR THE AREA AFTER 6Z
TONIGHT...SO THE CLEANUP PROCESS CAN BEGIN.

56/GOGGINS

&&

.AVIATION...18Z TAF DISCUSSION.

VERY DIFFICULT FORECAST FOR AVIATION THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...AS
CONFIDENCE IS LOW ON THE EXACT TIMING OF THUNDERSTORMS TO INITIALLY
DEVELOP ACROSS CENTRAL ALABAMA. GENERALLY SPEAKING...WE ARE
EXPECTING AT LEAST VCTS FOR ALL SITES FROM 21Z TO 23Z AREAWIDE.
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP...FIRST AS SCATTERED TORNADIC
SUPERCELLS...THEN CONSOLIDATING INTO A SQUALL LINE LATER THIS
EVENING. AMENDMENTS WILL BE MADE AFTER STORMS INITIALLY DEVELOP
THIS AFTERNOON. AT THE MOMENT...HAVE INCLUDED THE PASSAGE OF THE
SQUALL LINE IN THE TAF FOR ALL LOCATIONS WITH +TSRA AND 1SM. WINDS
WILL CONTINUE TO BE VERY GUSTY FROM THE SOUTH AHEAD OF THE COLD
FRONT THROUGHOUT THE DAY TODAY...WITH GUSTS UP TO 35KTS POSSIBLE.
WINDS WILL SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST LATE TONIGHT AND INTO THE
MORNING HOURS ON THURSDAY.

NOTICE...KEET TAF WILL HAVE (AMD LTD TO VIS WIND AND WX) AMENDED TO
THE END OF THE FORECAST UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THE CEILOMETER DATA
WILL BE GOING THROUGH NUMEROUS TESTS AND MONITORED FOR ACCURACY.

56

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
GADSDEN     79  57  69  47  74 /  70  80  10   0   0
ANNISTON    82  60  73  50  78 /  60 100  10   0   0
BIRMINGHAM  79  55  75  52  77 /  80  60  10   0   0
TUSCALOOSA  79  55  76  51  79 / 100  50  10   0   0
CALERA      81  57  74  51  77 /  70  70  10   0   0
AUBURN      82  60  73  53  75 /  50 100  10   0   0
MONTGOMERY  84  61  79  52  81 /  60  80  10   0   0
TROY        85  62  76  51  81 /  50  80  10   0   0

&&

.BMX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES: AUTAUGA...BARBOUR...BIBB...BLOUNT...BULLOCK...
CALHOUN...CHAMBERS...CHEROKEE...CHILTON...CLAY...CLEBURNE...
COOSA...DALLAS...ELMORE...ETOWAH...FAYETTE...GREENE...HALE...
JEFFERSON...LAMAR...LEE...LOWNDES...MACON...MARENGO...MARION...
MONTGOMERY...PERRY...PICKENS...PIKE...RANDOLPH...RUSSELL...
SHELBY...ST. CLAIR...SUMTER...TALLADEGA...TALLAPOOSA...
TUSCALOOSA...WALKER...WINSTON.

FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES: FAYETTE...LAMAR...MARION...WALKER...WINSTON.

&&

56
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 27, 1:27 PM CDT, 3 hours 43 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
127 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

ALZ011>015-017>050-281828-
AUTAUGA-BARBOUR-BIBB-BLOUNT-BULLOCK-CALHOUN-CHAMBERS-CHEROKEE-
CHILTON-CLAY-CLEBURNE-COOSA-DALLAS-ELMORE-ETOWAH-FAYETTE-GREENE-HALE-
JEFFERSON-LAMAR-LEE-LOWNDES-MACON-MARENGO-MARION-MONTGOMERY-PERRY-
PICKENS-PIKE-RANDOLPH-RUSSELL-SHELBY-ST CLAIR-SUMTER-TALLADEGA-
TALLAPOOSA-TUSCALOOSA-WALKER-WINSTON-
127 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

...TORNADO OUTBREAK LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

A SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK IS LIKELY TODAY FOR ALL OF CENTRAL
ALABAMA. STRONG...LONG LIVED TORNADOES...DAMAGING WINDS...AND
VERY LARGE HAIL ARE ALL POSSIBLE.  TORNADIC SUPERCELLS ARE EXPECTED
TO BEGIN DEVELOPING ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI-ALABAMA STATE LINE BETWEEN
2 AND 3 PM...AND THIS THREAT WILL GRADUALLY SHIFT EASTWARD THROUGH
THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS...POTENTIALLY REACHING THE INTERSTATE
65 CORRIDOR BETWEEN 4 AND 6 PM. CURRENT THINKING IS A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP LATE THIS EVENING AND TRAVERSE THE
EASTERN HALF OF THE BIRMINGHAM COUNTY WARNING AREA...EXITING INTO
GEORGIA BY 6 AM...AFFECTIVELY ENDING THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR
CENTRAL ALABAMA.

THIS IS POTENTIALLY A VERY DANGEROUS SCENARIO FOR ANYONE IN
CENTRAL ALABAMA.  NOW IS THE TIME TO REVIEW YOUR SEVERE WEATHER
ACTION PLAN AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE QUICK ACTION WHEN WATCHES AND
WARNINGS ARE EVENTUALLY ISSUED.

LOCALIZED TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE THROUGH TONIGHT.
A FEW INCHES OF RAINFALL MAY OCCUR IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.
ADDITIONALLY...MORE THAN ONE STORM MAY AFFECT THE SAME AREA. THIS
MAY PRODUCE SOME LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING.

EVEN OUTSIDE OF THUNDERSTORM AREAS...STRONG GRADIENT WINDS ARE ALSO
EXPECTED. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH ALONG WITH HIGHER GUSTS
UP TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WILL BE NEEDED
THROUGH TONIGHT DUE TO THE TORNADO THREAT.

27

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 27, 4:24 PM CDT, 46 minutes before
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Local storm report, Apr 27, 4:27 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
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Local storm report, Apr 27, 4:34 PM CDT, 36 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
434 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0420 PM     TORNADO          N GEIGER                32.87N 88.31W
04/27/2011                   SUMTER             AL   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

            DAMAGE PATH REPORTED JUST NORTH OF GEIGER. EMERGENCY
            RESPONDERS ENROUTE.

&&

JT
Local storm report, Apr 27, 4:38 PM CDT, 32 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
438 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0433 PM     TORNADO          3 NW CLINTON            32.94N 88.03W
04/27/2011                   GREENE             AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            SPOTTER REPORTS TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR THE COMMUNITY
            OF WEST GREENE.

&&

DS
Local storm report, Apr 27, 4:42 PM CDT, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
442 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0420 PM     TORNADO          1 E MOORES BRIDGE       33.45N 87.78W
04/27/2011                   TUSCALOOSA         AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            DAMAGE IN THE OLD MOORES BRIDGE AREA.

&&

DS
Local storm report, Apr 27, 5:09 PM CDT, 1 minute before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
509 PM CDT WED APR 27 2011

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0507 PM     TORNADO          DORA                    33.73N 87.08W
04/27/2011                   WALKER             AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TORNADO ON THE GROUND IN DORA.

&&

JT

The air that afternoon

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.

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 140 km from the path. April 27, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2011-04-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 587 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2011-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -359 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
587 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-359 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-197 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

1.8 hours after it, 140 km from the path. April 28, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2011-04-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3065 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 711 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2011-04-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 448 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 73 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
3065 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3309 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
73 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
448 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
480 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
9.6
Supercell composite
33.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Haleyville (1M4), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:10 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 27, 2011

209 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 271:12 AM CDTEF1Yazoo, MS9.7250$70,000
April 271:15 AM CDTEF1Leflore, MS27.750$50,000
April 271:24 AM CDTEF1Leflore, MS3.2100$50,000
April 271:36 AM CDTEF0LaSalle Parish, LA8.0100$40,000
April 271:40 AM CDTEF2Holmes, MS12.31,760$100,000
April 271:40 AM CDTEF3Holmes, MS23.01,760$700,000
April 271:51 AM CDTEF2Attala, MS23.0860$553,000
April 271:51 AM CDTEF0Holmes, MS1.750$25,000
April 271:59 AM CDTEF2Holmes, MS8.8880$10,000
April 272:06 AM CDTEF1Grenada, MS1.9150$60,000
April 272:17 AM CDTEF2Montgomery, MS11.71,760$425,000
April 272:20 AM CDTEF1Attala, MS0.550$25,000
April 272:25 AM CDTEF2Choctaw, MS6.81,7502$350,000
April 272:29 AM CDTEF1Winston, MS4.2150$85,000
April 272:29 AM CDTEF3Choctaw, MS58.71,80025$5.4 million
April 272:37 AM CDTEF2Webster, MS13.31,32015$605,000
April 272:47 AM CDTEF1Winston, MS7.3200$60,000
April 273:20 AM CDTEF1Noxubee, MS6.2150$300,000
April 273:43 AM CDTEF2Tishomingo, MS9.31501$500,000
April 274:01 AM CDTEF1Lauderdale, AL to TN9.2200$1,000
April 274:03 AM CDTEF2Kemper, MS to AL35.21,410$3.2 million
April 274:19 AM CDTEF1Lauderdale, AL1.81001
April 274:27 AM CDTEF2Pickens, AL14.41,232$1.8 million
April 274:41 AM CDTEF3Pickens, AL22.5704$741,000
April 275:03 AM CDTEF1Fayette, AL7.31764$1.4 million
April 275:17 AM CDTEF3Tuscaloosa, AL20.3200$9.3 million
April 275:18 AM CDTEF3Walker, AL18.937520$13 million
April 275:38 AM CDTEF2Lincoln, TN25.9400
April 275:40 AM CDTEF1Marshall, TN2.9100$75,000
April 275:47 AM CDTEF0Rutherford, TN2.150$8,000
April 275:48 AM CDTEF2Cullman, AL30.38801
April 275:50 AM CDTEF1Shelby, AL3.4100$3.7 million
April 275:50 AM CDTEF1Lawrence, TN2.71501$11,000
April 275:52 AM CDTEF0Rutherford, TN1.675$50,000
April 275:53 AM CDTEF2Blount, AL3.22003$9.3 million
April 275:54 AM CDTEF2Jefferson, AL7.820020$18 million
April 276:12 AM CDTEF1Blount, AL14.8200$42,000
April 276:13 AM CDTEF2Moore, TN2.075$25,000
April 276:16 AM CDTEF2St. Clair, AL3.82005$865,000
April 276:20 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL11.075
April 276:24 AM CDTEF0Smith, TN3.450$5,000
April 276:24 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL6.4100
April 276:30 AM CDTEF2Marshall, AL20.0880
April 276:30 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL4.650
April 276:30 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL3.4100
April 276:30 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL5.750
April 276:32 AM CDTEF1Green, KY3.1150
April 276:35 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL4.9100
April 276:35 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL0.350$10,000
April 276:43 AM CDTEF0Marshall, AL2.875
April 276:45 AM CDTEF0Coffee, TN1.750$5,000
April 276:45 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL4.8200
April 276:45 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL6.9300
April 276:47 AM CDTEF1Jackson, TN3.3100$10,000
April 276:49 AM CDTEF0Jackson, TN2.050$20,000
April 276:49 AM CDTEF1Marshall, AL1.6100
April 276:50 AM CDTEF1Warren, TN13.2100$100,000
April 276:58 AM CDTEF1DeKalb, AL27.93001
April 277:02 AM CDTEF1Monroe, KY5.9550
April 277:10 AM CDTEF2DeKalb, AL5.8200$30,000

All 210 of them

What this means

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.

Sources

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