EF1 tornado, Black to Fadette, Alabama, May 10, 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 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF1

Date

May 10, 2014

Touchdown

3:07 PM CDT (20:07 UTC)

Lifted

3:16 PM CDT (20:16 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

2.1 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$85,000

County

Geneva County

Touchdown point

31.001, -85.642

Lift-off point

31.014, -85.609

Record number

1405101407-01

14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

• start point of damage path
• tree uprooted, but surrounding trees in tact
• clock stopped at 315 pm cdt at carport at house next to barn, foundation lifted on barn pictured
• Concrete bases for i-beam supports pulled from the ground.

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

An isolated severe storm produced a brief tornado across Geneva county on May 10th with additional wind damage occurring on May 12th due to straight line winds.

Damage began just west of Geneva County Highway 9 near the intersection with Thelma Road. The beginning of the damage path appeared to be about 250 yards west of Highway 9 where some light tree damage was noted. More substantial tree damage was noted closer to Highway 9 and along Thelma Road, with numerous snapped or uprooted trees. In addition there was damage to two houses. One had some minor damage to some of the siding and gutters. The other had uplift of some sections of the roof from both the house and a nearby shed. Damage at this location was consistent with estimated peak 3-second wind gusts of around 100 mph based on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Some sporadic tree damage was noted to the northeast of Thelma Road near some farm fields, and it seems likely that the tornado was then in occasional contact with the ground for a little over a mile with only some light tree damage noted. A small corridor of more significant damage was noted again just west of Price Road and about 0.3 miles north of Geneva County Highway 4. At that location, a metal building structure being used as a barn was destroyed. The metal beams that supported the structure were embedded at the corners of the building in about a foot of concrete in the ground. These beams and the associated concrete were pulled out of the ground. Nearby damage consisted of some sporadic instances of trees and poles being snapped, as well as a small shed being destroyed. Given the likelihood that the wind entered the larger metal structure relatively unimpeded, and a lack of more significant nearby damage, it`s likely that this structure failed at a slightly lower wind speed with estimated peak 3-second wind gusts of around 105 mph. The last damage was noted in a patch of trees just northeast of the metal structure that was destroyed.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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 Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:07 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

5 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.