Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2016
EF1 tornado, Wiginton, Alabama, February 23, 2016
This EF1 tornado ran 2.2 miles across Marion County on February 23, 2016, touching down at 6:01 PM CST and reaching 300 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
- February 23, 2016
- Touchdown
- 6:01 PM CST (00:01 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:05 PM CST (00:05 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 2.2 miles (3.6 km)
- Path width
- 300 yards (274 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Marion County
- Touchdown point
- 34.227, -87.919
- Lift-off point
- 34.258, -87.927
- Record number
- 1602231801-01
The damage survey
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 EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.
- a few tall pines uprooted in a grove of pines Left edge.
- directions 340 and 300 and 290 and 270
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 trough of low pressure at 500 milibars was analyzed near the New Mexico and Texas border. A weak shortwave trough was also analyzed across northwest Mississippi. At the surface, a stationary front was draped from McComb, Mississippi, eastward to near a Tuscaloosa to Anniston, Alabama line. A surface low began to deepen over east Texas producing strengthening low level wind fields. Despite limited surface based instability over central Alabama due to persistent low clouds, the atmosphere was characterized by deep shear and increasing instability aloft.
National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Marion County just southwest of the city of Hackleburg and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado. Maximum winds were estimated to be around 95 mph. The tornado touched down just south of the intersection of Robert Dyer Road and Howell Road, just off of US Hwy 43 southwest of Hackleburg. From there, the tornado moved on a north-northwest path and crossed Spurgen Dyer Road and Marion County Road 41. The tornado ultimately lifted after it crossed State Rock Road, just east of CR-32. Damage along the path was largely limited to trees that were either uprooted or snapped. A garage near the start of the path had part of its tin peeled back, and one home near the intersection of CR-41 and CR-167 received minor damage to its roof.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:00 UTC | 03:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 21:00 UTC | 05:08 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | BMX |
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 forecast that day
The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 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.
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
0.0 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 37 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -47 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 70 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 626 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 183 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 202 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.3 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z
12.0 hours after it, 159 km from the path. February 24, 2016.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 19 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -4 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 82 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 646 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 50 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 16 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 17 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.9 K/km
The surface observations
Haleyville (1M4), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:56 UTC | 61 | 60 | 120° 5 kt | 1002.4 | -RA | |
| 23:36 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 4 kt | 1001 | RA BR | |
| 23:56 UTC | 61 | 60 | 120° 8 kt | 14 | 1000.7 | -RA BR |
| 00:10 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 160° 15 kt | 26 | 1001 | -RA |
| 00:23 UTC | 60.8 | 60.8 | 160° 8 kt | 1001.4 | -RA | |
| 00:56 UTC | 61 | 60 | 170° 13 kt | 17 | 1000.3 | -RA |
| 01:56 UTC | 61 | 59 | 170° 10 kt | 19 | 999 | RA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:03 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:01 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 5 S Pigeye | Marion, AL | ONE HOME WITH MINOR ROOF DAMAGE...AND ONE GARAGE HAD A PART OF ITS TIN PEELED BACK. NUMEROUS TREES UPROOTED. 2.2 MILE LONG PATH ON A NORTH-NORTHWEST ORIENTATION. |
| 00:03 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Wsw Hackleburg | Marion, AL | DUAL-POL TORNADO DEBRIS SIGNATURE DETECTED FROM KGWX NEXRAD. |
| 00:03 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Wsw Hackleburg | Marion, AL | DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF A HOME. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. DUAL-POL TORNADO DEBRIS SIGNATURE DETECTED FROM KGWX NEXRAD. UPDATED LOCATION AND INFORMATION. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 23, 2016
38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 23 | 5:53 AM CST | EF0 | Wharton, TX | 2.0 | 30 | |||
| February 23 | 11:11 AM CST | EF0 | Jefferson Parish, LA | 0.6 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 11:20 AM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 3.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 12:08 PM CST | EF0 | Ascension Parish, LA | 1.6 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 12:42 PM CST | EF2 | Livingston Parish, LA | 4.3 | 625 | |||
| February 23 | 1:14 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Helena Parish, LA | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| February 23 | 2:37 PM CST | EF1 | St. Mary Parish, LA | 2.6 | 50 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:10 PM CST | EF0 | Iberville Parish, LA | 1.0 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 3:21 PM CST | EF3 | Assumption Parish, LA | 7.8 | 350 | |||
| February 23 | 3:31 PM CST | EF2 | Saint James Parish, LA | 12.9 | 350 | 2 | 75 | |
| February 23 | 3:45 PM CST | EF1 | Lincoln, MS | 0.5 | 75 | $40,000 | ||
| February 23 | 3:49 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 9.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 3:50 PM CST | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 5.2 | 200 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:07 PM CST | EF0 | Lamar, MS | 0.1 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF1 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 3.1 | 250 | |||
| February 23 | 4:15 PM CST | EF2 | Lamar, MS | 5.6 | 100 | 1 | $105,000 | |
| February 23 | 4:22 PM CST | EF0 | Pickens, AL | 4.8 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 4:29 PM CST | EF1 | Lamar, MS | 1.4 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:32 PM CST | EF2 | Saint John the Baptist Parish, LA | 4.7 | 250 | 17 | ||
| February 23 | 4:41 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 0.4 | 25 | |||
| February 23 | 4:42 PM CST | EF0 | Yazoo, MS | 1.1 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 4:46 PM CST | EF0 | Simpson, MS | 0.6 | 40 | $13,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:13 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 1.5 | 75 | |||
| February 23 | 5:25 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.5 | 75 | $100,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:32 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 0.0 | 75 | $25,000 | ||
| February 23 | 5:45 PM CST | EF1 | Greene, MS | 1.6 | 150 | $200,000 | ||
| February 23 | 6:01 PM CST | EF0 | Forrest, MS | 3.9 | 75 | $15,000 | ||
| February 23 | 8:10 PM CST | EF3 | Escambia, FL | 3.0 | 300 | 3 | $22 million | |
| February 23 | 8:17 PM CST | EF1 | Santa Rosa, FL | 2.7 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:15 PM CST | EF0 | Houston, AL | 2.8 | 200 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:24 PM CST | EF1 | Dale, AL | 4.8 | 200 | |||
| February 23 | 10:31 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 1.6 | 350 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:34 PM CST | EF1 | Houston, AL | 3.7 | 900 | $75,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:38 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 1.1 | 300 | $50,000 | ||
| February 23 | 10:54 PM CST | EF0 | Henry, AL | 0.4 | 100 | |||
| February 23 | 11:02 PM CST | EF1 | Henry, AL | 0.5 | 150 | |||
| February 23 | 12:07 AM EST | EF1 | Early, GA | 2.2 | 350 | |||
| February 23 | 12:55 AM EST | EF1 | Terrell, GA | 5.1 | 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.