EF3 tornado, Wheeler Lake North to Athens, 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

4:47 PM CDT (21:47 UTC)

Lifted

5:14 PM CDT (22:14 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

15.6 miles (25.0 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

2

Injuries

30

County

Limestone County

Touchdown point

34.775, -87.232

Lift-off point

34.818, -86.963

Record number

1404281547-01

114 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 142 mph.

• boat thrown about 100 yards from storage shelter.
• 2-story condo destroyed - all walls collapsed.
• cinder block foundation. not anchored down.

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 rapidly intensified over Wheeler Lake resulting in extensive damage across southwest Limestone County.||Significant damage occurred at the Bay Hill Marina in Limestone County where a 2-story condominium was destroyed and a large metal building structure (used to store boats) sustained nearly complete failure of its exterior frame. Additional residences and condos had roof and exterior wall/siding damage and numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted. Several docks with metal protective coverings were destroyed. The tornado was near its peak intensity across this area, with winds between 120 and 140 mph.||The tornado continued east-northeast snapping numerous power poles near their bases along Snake Road. Along Log Cabin Road, just South of Highway 72, several homes sustained significant (if not complete) roof loss along with partial collapse of exterior walls. One single-family residence slid several feet off its concrete slab foundation. A trailer was also completely destroyed. The tornado maintained high-end EF-2/low-end EF-3 strength as it crushed Billy Barb's Trailer Park on Highway 72 in the Coxey community. 25 units were completely destroyed or uninhabitable. Two confirmed fatalities occurred at this location, with at least a dozen others injured. Debris was thrown across Highway 72 near Gordon/New Cut Road. The tornado crossed Highway 72 entering a mainly rural area of Limestone County. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted on either side of Highway 72 between Blue Springs Road and Parker Road.||The last significant area of damage occurred at a neighborhood community near the intersection of Seven Mile Post and Guinn Road. At this 10-acre location, nearly every home (concrete masonry unit) sustained some damage with at least a half dozen destroyed. One unit was swept clean off its foundation but was not anchored/secured to its foundation. The tornado continued east-northeast producing mainly EF-0 and EF-1 damage, minor roof/siding damage and snapped or uprooted trees, before gradually lifting just north of Athens near the intersection of West Elm Street and North Jefferson Street.||It should be noted that sporadic damage (mainly trees snapped or uprooted) was seen extending at least 1/2 to 1 mile on either side of the center track of this tornado. This damage was not included in the path width.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:35 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:39 UTC and running to 01:11 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:20 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.

Decatur/Pryor Field (DCU), 21 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), 94 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:47 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.