EF1 tornado, Lowery to Rhoades, Alabama, August 30, 2012

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

August 30, 2012

Touchdown

2:44 AM CDT (07:44 UTC)

Lifted

2:48 AM CDT (07:48 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

35 yards (32 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

Counties

Coffee and Geneva counties

Touchdown point

31.190, -86.140

Lift-off point

31.233, -86.140

Record number

1208300144-01

The outer remnants of Hurricane Isaac spawned an EF1 tornado in Geneva county.

The Geneva county emergency manager confirmed that an EF1 tornado touched down around the Highway 52 and County Road 20 area. Several large trees were blown down, and the roof was blown off a mobile home along with damage to sheds and a barn near County Road 5 and Bear Branch Road. This tornado continued into far southwest Coffee county before lifting. Monetary damage was estimated.

The Coffee county emergency manager reported minor damage to structures in far southwest Coffee county. This was the result of a weak tornado moving out of northwest Geneva county. The Coffee county portion of this tornado was rated EF0. Monetary damage was estimated.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:38 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:13 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 04:32 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.

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 2012 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.