EF2 tornado, Weller to Broadmoor, 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

11:16 PM CDT (04:16 UTC)

Lifted

11:25 PM CDT (04:25 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

5.1 miles (8.3 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jefferson County

Touchdown point

33.359, -86.995

Lift-off point

33.411, -86.934

Record number

1404282216-01

143 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.

• couple of trees uprooted possible end point
• trees and power line downs
• half dozen or so trees uprooted
• more trees uprooted or snapped minor roof damage

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 approximately one quarter of a mile north of Alice Road and to the northeast where it snapped and uprooted hundreds of trees along the path. It continued nearly parallel to Blue Creek Road traveling over private property where it continued to produce damage. The tornado crossed Valley Creek with winds of 105 mph where additional trees were snapped or uprooted. It continued on its northeast path and eventually crossed Johns Road where several trees were snapped. The tornado lifted approximately one-tenth of a mile northeast of Sunnyhill Drive.

The tornado touched down near Academy Drive and Southgate Lane in Bessemer and traveled to the northeast, snapping and uprooting dozens of trees along its path. In addition, dozens of homes sustained damage from downed trees. The tornado intensified with winds of 120 mph as it neared the Frank House Municipal Golf Course where the clubhouse was destroyed. The tornado continued on its northeast path, crossing the golf course, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees. Several homes and an apartment complex sustained significant roof damage around Memorial Drive. The tornado continued to the northeast as it paralleled 4th Avenue North. The tornado took a slight turn to the east as it crossed Alabama Highway 150, causing minor damage to a home and small restaurant. Hundreds of trees were uprooted through Bessemer, before the tornado lifted near the intersection of Dartmouth Avenue and 31st Street South.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:41 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 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), 30 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:14 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.