EF2 tornado, Allen, Alabama, February 21, 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

February 21, 2014

Touchdown

12:28 AM CST (06:28 UTC)

Lifted

12:31 AM CST (06:31 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

County

DeKalb County

Touchdown point

34.494, -85.675

Lift-off point

34.499, -85.662

Record number

1402210028-01

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

• Possible inflow winds shoved multiple tractor trailers together at south end of property
• trailers lifted onto warehouse building causing structural damage
• 3 trailers flipped/toppled; one of which vaulted onto warehouse roof. 1 of 3 trailers loaded, other 2 empty
• drag marks from trailer dragged 25-30 ft

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

A quasi-linear convective system rolled across the region during the evening and overnight hours of the 20th into the 21st producing eight tornadoes in north Alabama and southern middle Tennessee and numerous reports of wind damage.

A brief but strong tornado with wind speeds up to 125 mph touched down at the Jet Polymer Plant off of Gault Avenue about 4 miles north-northeast of the town of Fort Payne in central DeKalb County. The tornado flipped 3 large tractor trailers, one of which was vaulted into the air, landing on top of the plant's roof. Adjacent to the plant, across a parking lot, a medium sized metal building structure had much of its metal siding removed and roof uplifted. Also, the column anchorage was severely bent and failed. The tornado continued its track northeast, snapping and uprooting medium to large trees.||Beyond this point, the tornado appeared to skip along its track (litlte to no damage seen), before doing significant structural damage to several homes along Green Valley Circle. One person experienced minor injuries (lacerations) at one of the homes in this location. Two single-family well constructed residences sustained a complete loss of roof material and a collapse of at least two exterior walls (mainly around the garage areas). Numerous trees surrounding the properties were snapped or uprooted. In addition, one small and one medium sized shed were completely destroyed. This area appeared to be where the tornado was at its strongest (Peak Winds: 125 mph/EF-2 rating). Other nearby homes in the neighborhood along Green Valley Circle sustained mainly loss of roof shingles, siding panels, and broken windows.||Just up the hill from this location, a small apartment complex was hit. Partial uplift of the roof occurred at this location. Also nearby, a small apartment complex was hit, where partial uplift of the roof, loss of siding, and broken windows were seen at this two story apartment complex. Other smaller buildings had just minor roof damage, with small trees snapped off, and small branches broken off of trees. The tornado continued northeast along its short track and appeared to quickly weaken and eventually lift near the intersection of 55th Street and Martin Avenue, but not before causing partial roof loss to a home. At this location, plastic fencing around a pool was knocked out and several trees were snapped about halfway down. Debris was also noticed littering the area, seemingly deposited by the tornado as it diminished.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:51 UTC and running to 06:57 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 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.

Fort_payne (4A9), 5 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), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:27 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

8 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.