EF0 tornado, Beehive to Whatley Xrd, Alabama, April 6, 2016

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

April 6, 2016

Touchdown

11:44 PM CDT (04:44 UTC)

Lifted

11:50 PM CDT (04:50 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.7 miles (7.6 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lee County

Touchdown point

32.540, -85.418

Lift-off point

32.531, -85.338

Record number

1604062244-01

18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• Estimated start point. A few small trees uprooted. Some trees pointed North some Northeast some North Northwest
• Several pine trees topped. Some adjacent pines uprooted.
• NE. A few pieces of sheet metal blown off a roof. START point
• Single tree damage outside of the tornado damage path

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

As a strong shortwave trough approached central Alabama from the west a low level southerly jet intensified over the area. Cold air advection aloft associated with the short wave produced steep lapse rates favorable for damaging winds and large hail.|The low level jet also produced a maximum of storm-relative helicity over east Alabama during the evening hours, and enhanced the threat of tornadoes.

NWS meteorologists surveyed damage near the near The Greens Apartment Homes, south of the city of Auburn, and determined it was the result of a tornado. The first signs of tornadic damage was observed on Persimmon Drive, where several trees were uprooted. Tree branches were broken along Live Oak Drive, and two trampolines were lofted downstream. The tornado then crossed US-29 into The Greens Apartment Homes, where several trees were uprooted and snapped. Light shingle damage was observed on a few units as well. Dissipation of the tornado took place within the apartment complex near the Clubhouse.

NWS meteorologists surveyed damage along Pierce Chapel Road/County Road 47, south of the city of Opelika, and determined it was the result of a tornado. The tornado resulted from the same storm circulation that produced a weak tornado near the Greens Apartments. Initial damage was observed along County Road 47, between Society Hill Road and County Road 27, of which included a large downed tree, broken tree branches, and a few pieces of metal sheeting removed from an outbuilding. The tornado remained on the north side of County Road 47 for a period of time, producing additional vegetative damage. The tornado tracked along County Road 47, nearing Alabama Highway 51, where several trees were uprooted and snapped. The tornado then weakened as it moved east, dissipating at County Road 166, but still took down a few trees between Highway 51 and County Road 166.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:34 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:00 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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 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 Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:45 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 2016 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

9 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.