EF1 tornado, Farley to Dug Hill, Alabama, April 11, 2013

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

April 11, 2013

Touchdown

4:20 PM CDT (21:20 UTC)

Lifted

4:28 PM CDT (21:28 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

6.6 miles (10.6 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Madison County

Touchdown point

34.615, -86.639

Lift-off point

34.665, -86.540

Record number

1304111520-01

37 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The combination of a cold front and an associated upper level short wave moving through the region, resulted in two tornadoes and isolated wind damage across portions of north Alabama.

A tornado touched down on the southeast area of Redstone Arsenal near the intersection of Redstone Road Southwest and Patton Road Southwest. Damage was seen just northeast of this location as several small to medium-sized trees were snapped along Magazine road. About a half mile northeast, off Sandpiper road, minor structural damage occurred to a medium-sized metal building system with two portions of a west facing wall blown out. Debris from the walls and small portions of the roof were thrown to the northwest, perpendicular to the storm motion and track. Several pine trees were snapped and uprooted in this area as well. The tornado continued its track northeast toward the eastern edge of the Arsenal perimeter, where several larger trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado continued its track northeast and connected with the damage beginning around Craigmont road. ||The tornado continued to track toward the west side of Memorial Parkway (Highway 231), in the 9000 block of Craigmont drive. In this area, several large trees were snapped or uprooted with at least one falling onto the back of a house. The tornado moved northeast, crossing Highway 231, with several trees snapped along Oldfield road. Extensive power line and power pole damage was also noted at the intersection of Whitesburg Drive and Lily Flagg road. Several wooden poles were snapped near the base and a street light was snapped at the base as well. Several business signs were blown out in the area. The tornado was likely at its strongest point in this area, reaching EF-1 intensity. ||The tornado then moved across several residential neighborhoods, snapping and uprooting both soft and hardwood trees. Minor damage to roofs, mainly from falling trees, was also noted. A large tree fell on a house on Valley View drive, causing major damage to the home. The tornado crossed Hickory Hill road, snapping trees and eventually causing minor tree damage in the Valley Hill Country Club area. The tonrado finally lifted near Haven Street, just west of Bailey Cove road.

The same storm that spawned the Lily Flagg area tornado previously in Madison County, Alabama, caused an additional short-lived tornado that touched down along Dug Hill road near the Cheval Boulevard (Cheval neighborhood). At this location, several hardwood trees were uprooted and several power poles were snapped. In addition, large cedar trees and other smaller softwood trees were snapped and twisted further down Dug Hill road. Further east-northeast, a large swath of cedar trees and other hardwood trees were snapped or uprooted, with several snapped off near the base, which was consistent with EF-1 damage. A roof was also ripped off a barn on the east side of Dug Hill road. The tornado then lifted just north of Raintree road in Madison County, Alabama.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:11 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:33 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:00 UTC and running to 22:09 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:20 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 2013 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.