EF3 tornado, White City to Simcoe, Alabama, April 28, 2014

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.

Rating

EF3

Date

April 28, 2014

Touchdown

9:39 PM CDT (02:39 UTC)

Lifted

9:58 PM CDT (02:58 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

8.9 miles (14.3 km)

Path width

350 yards (320 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cullman County

Touchdown point

34.096, -86.760

Lift-off point

34.223, -86.741

Record number

1404282039-01

52 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 145 mph.

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

A tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and evening across the central Tennessee Valley on the 28th. Several cyclic supercells produced tornadoes, some of which were strong. Very heavy rainfall occurred in some areas as well. In particular, up to 5 inches fell in just a few hours which led to severe flash flooding in Valley Head.|An additional round of thunderstorms late in the day/evening of the 29th produced a few reports of damaging winds and hail.

A tornado first touched down in the Welti community along CR 636. Numerous hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted in this area. The tornado continued to move north with significant damage to a one story home along CR 601. Major roof uplift was noted to this home and a building under construction at the same site was completely destroyed and blown several hundred yards. A large travel trailer was also rolled. Damage at this location was deemed EF-2 in intensity. Further north along the road a large outbuilding was completely destroyed.||The tornado intensified as it moved northward crossing the Broglen River. Here the tornado widens to near 350 yards. Many hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted along the path. A chicken farm sustained damage along CR 732. Near this location along CR 736 a well constructed two story brick home sustained severe damage when the upstairs was completely wiped away and blown several hundred yards into a ravine. Large debris missiles were seen embedded in the surrounding fields. Several trees in this area were also severely mangled and partially debarked. Damage in this area was rated low end EF-3.||The tornado continued to track northward ripping the roof completely off a home at the intersection of CR 736 and 703. The tornado intensity oscillated as it tracked northward toward the Berlin community. Numerous wooden power poles were snapped along CR 703. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted as it crossed Highway 278 with some trees sheared near the base.||A TVA substation suffered significant damage with large electrical lines damaged and poles snapped and destroyed. The survey team was not able to fully observe this damage due to security restrictions but online photos indicate that this particular damage is consistent with at least high end EF-2 or possibly EF-3 damage. A chicken farm sustained severe structural damage with one house completely wiped to the ground with the metal trusses severely mangled. 25,000 chickens were killed in this one location. A mobile home along CR 747 was completely destroyed with debris thrown over 50 yards. Additional tree damage was noted in this area. The tornado weakened quite rapidly after this point lifting just north of Hwy 69.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:24 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:11 UTC and running to 05:50 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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.

Cullman (CMD), 16 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), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:39 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 2014 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

52 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.