Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2014

EF1 tornado, New Sharon to Fairview, Alabama, April 28, 2014

Name: EF1 tornado, New Sharon to Fairview, Alabama, April 28, 2014
Start: 2014-04-28T22:50:00.000Z
End: 2014-04-28T23:05:00.000Z
Location: New Sharon to Fairview, Alabama

From New Sharon to Fairview, this EF1 tornado ran 8.9 miles across Madison County on April 28, 2014, touching down at 5:50 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF1
Date: April 28, 2014
Touchdown: 5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
Lifted: 6:05 PM CDT (23:05 UTC)
On the ground: 15 minutes
Path length: 8.9 miles (14.3 km)
Path width: 100 yards (91 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Madison County
Touchdown point: 34.948, -86.647
Lift-off point: 34.987, -86.496
Record number: 1404281650-01

The damage survey

22 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 140 mph.

appeared to be solidly-built house; possibly split by multiple vortices

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

What the Weather Service recorded

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 touched down along Charity Lane between Stafford and Butter-and-Egg Roads. It tracked almost directly eastward along Charity Lane, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees and causing minor roof damage to multiple houses. At Charity Baptist Church, the tornado uprooted a very large oak tree believed to be around 150 years old. It began tracking more to the northeast as it reached Frank Patterson Road, continuing to snap many more trees in the Hazel Trace and Hazelwood Drive area. It crossed Highway 231/431, collapsing a carport near Carriger road. The tornado continued to snap and uproot many more trees along Mulberry Road, Bevills Church Road, Greenville Pike, and Everett Jones Road. The tornado dissipated just east of Everett Jones Road, just south of Borderline Road and the Tennessee State Line.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 28, 4:55 PM CDT, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 4:55 PM CDT, 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
455 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

.UPDATE...
MESOSCALE UPDATE.

&&

.MESOSCALE UPDATE...
SUPERCELLS CONTINUE TO MARCH EASTWARD ACROSS THE HUN CWFA THIS
AFTERNOON...WITH A CONFIRMED TORNADO ON THE GROUND AT THE MOMENT
CROSSING THE TENNESSEE RIVER FROM THE LAWRENCE/LAUDERDALE COUNTY BORDER
INTO LIMESTONE COUNTY. THIS CELL DEVELOPED WEST OF RUSSELLVILLE JUST
A SHORT WHILE AGO AND HAS STRENGTHENED AS IT MOVED EAST/NORTHEAST.
LOW LEVEL HELICITIES OF 200 TO 300 M2/S2 AND LCL LEVELS OF 500-700M ARE
POOLING JUST HEAD OF/ALONG THE SUPERCELLS, AIDING IN TORNADO
DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON.

THE AREA REMAINS IN THE RIGHT REAR QUADRANT OF A H5 JET ROUNDING THE
BASE OF THE UPPER TROF PARKED OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS, ENHANCING LIFT
ALOFT FOR THE ONGOING CONVECTION.

IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE THREAT, HP SUPERCELLS ARE ALSO KNOWN FOR
THEIR PROLIFIC RAIN-PRODUCING PROPERTIES. AS SUCH, RAIN RATES OF 3-4"
PER HOUR HAVE BEEN NOTED OVER NORTHWEST ALABAMA. FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS
WILL FOLLOW THIS LINE OF CONVECTION AS IT MARCHES EASTWARD THIS
EVENING.

12

&&

.AVIATION...
/ISSUED 1222 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014/
FOR 18Z TAFS...
TS WILL INCREASE BETWEEN 21-23Z FOR AREAS ALONG AND WEST OF I-65.
STORMS WILL IMPACT KMSL INITIALLY AND POSSIBLY KHSV BY 23Z.
CONDITIONS REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER...INCLUDING
TORNADOES...THROUGH THIS EVENING ACROSS N AL. AS STORMS APPROACH...
EXPECT WIDESPREAD MVFR CIGS AND VSBY WITH HEAVY RAIN/INTENSITY OF
STORMS TEMPORARILY LOWERING CIGS/VSBY TO IFR (OR WORSE). WIND GUSTS
WILL BE ERRATIC. CONDITIONS APPEAR TO IMPROVE WEST TO EAST BETWEEN
03-07Z/TONIGHT.

DJN.83

&&

.HUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING FOR ALZ001>010-016.

TN...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING FOR TNZ076-096-097.

&&

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE
AT WEATHER.GOV/HUNTSVILLE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 28, 2:28 PM CDT, 3 hours 22 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
228 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

ALZ001>010-016-TNZ076-096-097-291000-
LAUDERDALE-COLBERT-FRANKLIN AL-
LAWRENCE-LIMESTONE-MADISON-MORGAN-MARSHALL-JACKSON-DEKALB-CULLMAN-
MOORE-LINCOLN-FRANKLIN TN-
228 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH ALABAMA AND PORTIONS
OF SOUTHERN MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK POSSIBLE ACROSS THE TENNESSEE
VALLEY LATER THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING.

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION LATER THIS
AFTERNOON AND INTO THIS EVENING. ALL TYPES OF SEVERE WEATHER ARE
POSSIBLE WITH THIS ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS...INCLUDING DAMAGING
WINDS...TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...AND FLASH FLOODING. A FEW STRONG
TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE. THE THREAT FOR FLASH FLOODING WILL INCREASE
THIS EVENING AS MULTIPLE ROUNDS OF HEAVY RAINFALL OCCUR...ESPECIALLY
ACROSS NORTHWEST ALABAMA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...

ONE FINAL ROUND OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED ALONG A COLD FRONT AS
IT MOVES ACROSS THE AREA TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SOME OF THESE
STORMS MAY ALSO PRODUCE SEVERE WEATHER...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS AS THE PRIMARY THREATS.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL IS
REQUESTED LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 28, 4:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 27 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
423 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0417 PM     HAIL             4 NNW LEIGHTON          34.76N 87.56W
04/28/2014  E0.50 INCH       COLBERT            AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            DIME SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED.

&&

KWEBER

Local storm report, Apr 28, 4:50 PM CDT, 1 hour before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
450 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0410 PM     TORNADO          8 W LEIGHTON            34.70N 87.67W
04/28/2014                   COLBERT            AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY A TRAINED SPOTTER AT THIS
            LOCATION.

0400 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     5 N NORTH COURTLAND     34.74N 87.33W
04/28/2014                   LAWRENCE           AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A WALL CLOUD NORTH OF COURTLAND

&&

KWEBER

Local storm report, Apr 28, 4:58 PM CDT, 52 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
458 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0400 PM     TORNADO          2 NNW RUSSELLVILLE      34.53N 87.74W
04/28/2014                   FRANKLIN           AL   STORM CHASER

            STORM CHASER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND NORTHWEST
            OF RUSSELLVILLE.

&&

KWEBER

Local storm report, Apr 28, 5:04 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
504 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0359 PM     TSTM WND DMG     2 NNW RUSSELLVILLE      34.53N 87.74W
04/28/2014                   FRANKLIN           AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            MULTIPLE TREES AND POWERLINES DOWN NORTHWEST OF
            RUSSELLVILLE HIGH SCHOOL.

&&

KWEBER

Local storm report, Apr 28, 5:22 PM CDT, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
522 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0521 PM     HAIL             ELKMONT                 34.93N 86.98W
04/28/2014  E2.75 INCH       LIMESTONE          AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            BASEBALL SIZED HAIL WAS REPORTED.

&&

KWEBER

Local storm report, Apr 28, 5:45 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
545 PM CDT MON APR 28 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0330 PM     TSTM WND DMG     RED BAY                 34.44N 88.14W
04/28/2014                   FRANKLIN           AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            MULTIPLE REPORTS OF TREES DOWN...SOME ON BUILDINGS...AND
            POWER POLES DOWN. ONE WOMAN WAS TRAPPED IN HER HOUSE...NO
            INJURIES REPORTED.

&&

KWEBER

The air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

10.8 hours before the tornado, 129 km from the path. April 28, 2014.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 267 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -224 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 707 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 573 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 616 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 14.5
0-3 km lapse rate: 4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

1.2 hours after it, 129 km from the path. April 29, 2014.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1019 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -12 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 666 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 789 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 335 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 375 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.7
Supercell composite: 15.6
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Fayetteville (FYM), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:48 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2014 tornado in Alabama Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 2014

52 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 28	3:09 AM CDT	EF2	Bossier Parish, LA	5.1	550			$1.0 million
April 28	6:46 AM CDT	EF0	Shelby, TN	1.5	75			$25,000
April 28	12:36 PM CDT	EF1	White, TN	2.0	100			$30,000
April 28	1:57 PM CDT	EF0	Yazoo, MS	0.2	50
April 28	2:38 PM CDT	EF3	Lee, MS	31.0	440		32	$18 million
April 28	2:51 PM CDT	EF1	Montgomery, MS	3.4	100			$70,000
April 28	3:51 PM CDT	EF4	Louisville tornado, MS	33.4	1,320	10	84	$117 million
April 28	3:56 PM CDT	EF1	Franklin, AL	3.2	100
April 28	4:47 PM CDT	EF3	Limestone, AL	15.6	600	2	30
April 28	4:56 PM CDT	EF1	Warren, MS	4.7	200		1	$400,000
April 28	5:10 PM CDT	EF2	Obion, TN to KY	12.1	150		1	$280,000
April 28	5:14 PM CDT	EF1	Oktibbeha, MS	7.1	100			$45,000
April 28	5:20 PM CDT	EF1	Hinds, MS	13.8	500			$500,000
April 28	5:38 PM CDT	EF0	Marion, AL	7.7	100			$15,000
April 28	5:39 PM CDT	EF1	Lowndes, MS	0.6	100			$25,000
April 28	5:46 PM CDT	EF0	Hickman, KY	1.0	25			$2,000
April 28	5:48 PM CDT	EF1	Hinds, MS	10.9	300			$350,000
April 28	5:53 PM CDT	EF2	Lowndes, MS	10.3	300			$700,000
April 28	6:00 PM CDT	EF1	Madison, MS	3.8	200			$450,000
April 28	7:00 PM EDT	EF2	Troup, GA	5.7	150			$41,000
April 28	6:08 PM CDT	EF1	Lowndes, MS	6.3	250			$700,000
April 28	6:09 PM CDT	EF2	Lincoln, TN	9.5	250
April 28	6:13 PM CDT	EF0	Madison, MS	0.8	75			$50,000
April 28	6:19 PM CDT	EF1	Lowndes, MS to AL	10.0	500			$500,000
April 28	6:27 PM CDT	EF3	Hinds, MS	29.7	400	1	10	$13 million
April 28	6:38 PM CDT	EF2	Lowndes, MS to AL	14.3	500		5	$500,000
April 28	7:08 PM CDT	EF1	Leake, MS	5.0	100			$400,000
April 28	7:35 PM CDT	EF1	Fayette, AL	7.0	350			$250,000
April 28	7:36 PM CDT	EF3	Scott, MS	4.3	150		3	$700,000
April 28	7:54 PM CDT	EF1	Newton, MS	9.6	150			$300,000
April 28	8:09 PM CDT	EF3	Lincoln, TN	26.8	500	2
April 28	8:12 PM CDT	EF2	Newton, MS	5.6	400			$750,000
April 28	8:18 PM CDT	EF1	Jackson, AL	6.1	100
April 28	8:35 PM CDT	EF1	Newton, MS	13.1	100			$275,000
April 28	8:40 PM CDT	EF1	Walker, AL	2.4	150
April 28	9:30 PM CDT	EF1	Sumter, AL	1.0	150
April 28	9:39 PM CDT	EF3	Cullman, AL	8.9	350
April 28	9:40 PM CDT	EF3	Jones, MS	10.5	880		15	$1.6 million
April 28	9:59 PM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa, AL	12.5	1,500		13
April 28	10:00 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson, AL	8.8	800		4
April 28	11:05 PM EDT	EF1	Whitfield, GA	3.4	100			$30,000
April 28	11:05 PM EDT	EF1	Bradley, TN	0.6	100			$90,000
April 28	10:09 PM CDT	EF2	Wayne, MS	9.2	250			$1.0 million
April 28	10:13 PM CDT	EF2	Jefferson, AL	5.5	1,800		3
April 28	10:55 PM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa, AL	4.5	675
April 28	11:00 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson, AL	7.6	913
April 28	11:16 PM CDT	EF2	Jefferson, AL	5.1	600
April 28	11:22 PM CDT	EF1	Blount, AL	7.8	1,000
April 28	12:15 AM CDT	EF1	Clarke, AL	0.3	200			$5,000
April 28	12:24 AM CDT	EF2	Blount, AL	14.6	1,300		2
April 28	12:32 AM CDT	EF3	Etowah, AL	11.7	600
April 28	12:54 AM CDT	EF2	DeKalb, AL	2.5	200

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.