EF2 tornado, Morris to Brookside, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 28, 2014

Touchdown

10:13 PM CDT (03:13 UTC)

Lifted

10:23 PM CDT (03:23 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

5.5 miles (8.8 km)

Path width

1,800 yards (1646 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

33.586, -87.005

Lift-off point

33.628, -86.932

Record number

1404282113-01

131 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• convergent pattern of uprooted trees
• worst damage in Kimberly loss of church roof/canopy
• multiple roof damage at entrance of neighborhood
• hundreds of trees uprooted or snapped

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

A large scale severe weather event began Saturday, April 26 and ended Wednesday, April 30th, producing several waves of severe weather from the Central Plains eastward through the Deep South, and across a significant portion of the eastern United States. Strong and violent tornadoes, very large hail, flash flooding, and damaging straight line winds accompanied this dynamic storm system. The most tornadoes occurred across the Deep South as the system moved into Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, April 28th. Supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon over eastern Mississippi and northwest Alabama in the warm sector well ahead of a cold front. The activity slowly spread east and southeast overnight, with this wave of severe storms ending early Tuesday morning. Storms redeveloped late Tuesday afternoon and moved into Central Alabama. A large area of rainfall across the northern Gulf Coast limited the amount of instability across the area, and storms remained below severe limits. The last wave of severe weather occurred early Wednesday morning across the south as an isolated storm produced large hail, as the system finally pulled east of the area.

The tornado touched down near Interstate 65, about one-half mile south of Sardis Road. The tornado moved to the northeast and crossed Interstate 65, where it snapped and uprooted hundreds of trees along the path. As the tornado continued to the northeast, it strengthened to winds of 100 mph. The tornado moved into the city limits of Kimberly where several structures were damaged. A vacant large retail building had its roof removed. The most extensive damage occurred to the Kimberly Church of God where uplift of most of the roof structure resulted in exterior wall collapse. The tornado crossed Stouts Road where the Kimberly Fire Department sustained major damage.The tornado continued to snap dozens of trees as it moved northeast and several homes had shingle damage. As the tornado crossed Bradford Trafford Road, multiple trees were uprooted with one falling on a home causing major roof damage. The tornado continued northward into Blount County.

The tornado touched down near Oak Leaf Circle and traveled to the northeast where it snapped and uprooted dozens of trees along its path. The tornado intensified as it neared Cruce Road just south of Graysville, with winds of 105 mph. Here, approximately four manufactured homes sustained major damage with one being completely destroyed after it rolled several times. The tornado continued on its northeast path and snapped and uprooted hundreds of trees. As it crossed Adamsville Parkway, just south of Graysville, the tornado strengthened with winds of 125 mph. In this area, two brick homes sustained damage from partial exterior wall collapse. Several other homes sustained roof damage and a manufactured home sustained damage. Additionally, hundreds of trees were downed. The tornado took a slight right turn and crossed Interstate 22 near Cherry Avenue before it lifted along Brookside Cardiff Road near McCay Road.

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:52 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 01:01 UTC and running to 06:59 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.

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 52 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:13 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.