EF1 tornado, Geneva Municipal Arpt to Cool Springs, Alabama, June 10, 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

June 10, 2012

Touchdown

11:11 AM CDT (16:11 UTC)

Lifted

11:34 AM CDT (16:34 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

9.9 miles (16.0 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

Counties

Geneva and Coffee counties

Touchdown point

31.070, -85.890

Lift-off point

31.200, -85.820

Record number

1206101011-01

An upper level shortwave moving east across the Gulf coast states encountered an unstable airmass with fairly high delta thetae values favorable for downbursts. Several areas of tree and power line damage occurred. Low level wind shear was also maximized in southeast Alabama, contributing to a rare summer EF1 tornado in Geneva county spawned from a supercell thunderstorm.

It is believed that the damage path from this tornado was nearly continuous from where the tornado first touched down near Niva Drive-In Road and Highway 27, to where it dissipated just north of the Geneva County border east of Chancellor. The bulk of the damage caused by this tornado was in the EF0 range. However, the most significant damage seems to have occurred in the vicinity of County road 99 and Buck Vaughn Road. Damage in and near this location is consistent with EF1.

This is a continuation of the Geneva county tornado. This tornado was seen near the Geneva/Coffee county line by a retired police officer before dissipating. No damage was reported in Coffee county.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:59 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:30 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:57 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.

Cairns Aaf/Ozark (OZR), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

2 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.