EF0 tornado, Wheeler Lake North to Stewerds Store, Alabama, May 25, 2011

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

May 25, 2011

Touchdown

11:40 PM CDT (04:40 UTC)

Lifted

11:44 PM CDT (04:44 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Limestone County

Touchdown point

34.780, -87.178

Lift-off point

34.788, -87.158

Record number

1105252240-01

Supercells in northern Mississippi transitioned into a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) which progressed eastward through northern Alabama. The storms produced a few bow echoes and meso-vortices, which spawned a few tornadoes and produced widespread wind damage in northwest Alabama (mainly west of I-65). As the storms progressed eastward, the gust front began to outrun the storms, yet still produced sporadic wind damage.

A short-lived tornado with peak winds of 80 mph developed along a squall line of severe thunderstorms. The tornado initially touched down just north of the Davis/Snake Road intersection where several large trees were uprooted and snapped, one which fell on the corner of a single-story house. The tornado skipped northeast and snapped and uprooted additional trees around a residence between Fielding Road / County Road 15 and Davis Road. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Fielding Road / County Road 15 and Stanford Road with a just a few trees snapped halfway down, along with an awning pulled off a small shed.

A tornado with peak winds of 85 mph re-developed along a squall line and crossed state highway 99 / Buck Island Road near Lydia Corey Road, uprooting several large trees with one falling onto the side of a house. Across the street, a large barn was severely damaged with the roof and most walls gone. The tornado continued northeast crossing Easter Ferry Road and Edgewood Road. Along Cross Key Road, several large trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado tracked northeast snapping off the tops of several trees before lifting again near the intersection of Coffman Road and Highway 127.

A tornado briefly touched down over the Athens Country Club and Golf Course along Hatfield Lake Road. Several trees were uprooted along its short path. Tops of other pine and cedar trees were snapped and twisted. The tornado lifted just northeast of the Country Club around Strain Road, just west of Interstate 65.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:33 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:33 UTC and running to 06:35 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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), 22 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), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:39 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

93 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 94 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.