Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2016
EF0 tornado, Mc Kenzie, Alabama, March 24, 2016
This EF0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Butler County on March 24, 2016, touching down at 2:30 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $8,000 of property damage.
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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- March 24, 2016
- Touchdown
- 2:30 PM CDT (19:30 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:32 PM CDT (19:32 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.4 miles (0.6 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $8,000
- County
- Butler County
- Touchdown point
- 31.529, -86.724
- Lift-off point
- 31.531, -86.719
- Record number
- 1603241330-01
The damage survey
9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 93 mph.
- several pine trees blown down in ne direction.
- Large oak tree uprooted and blown down on a mobile home. Large section of tree blown down on adjacent power line.
- Several large tree limbs blown down.
- Metal storage building destroyed.
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 well defined bow echo and mesoscale convective vortex moved across southwest and south central Alabama, producing numerous areas of wind damage and one embedded, brief tornado. Heavy rain also produced flooding in many locations.
The tornado touched down west of U.S. Highway 31, just south of McKenzie. It moved across the highway and lifted near Faust Road. A mobile home experienced minor damage and a shed was destroyed. A couple of hardwood trees were uprooted along the path.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
7 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:23 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:46 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:18 UTC and running to 20:14 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:18 UTC | 20:14 UTC | Tornado Watch | MOB |
| 18:46 UTC | 19:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 19:23 UTC | 19:46 UTC | Tornado Warning | MOB |
| 19:31 UTC | 20:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
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 16:30 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 radar
The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 120 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:33 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Sse I65 And Al 41 | Conecuh, AL | TREES DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 41 IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY |
| 18:57 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Appleton | Escambia, AL | BROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED REPORTS OF TREES DOWN NEAR APPLETON. RADAR USED FOR TIMING OF DAMAGE. |
| 19:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 10 E Brewton | Escambia, AL | BROADCAST MEDIA RELAYED REPORT OF TREE AND TRAMPOLINE DAMAGE ALONG HIGHWAY 29 IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY. |
| 19:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 S Castleberry | Escambia, AL | DAMAGE TO A MOBILE HOME AND OUTBUILDING ON ZION HILL RD NEAR CASTLEBERRY. SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN. REPORT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 19:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Se I65 And Cr 7 | Butler, AL | 3-4 HOUSES SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE. LOTS OF TREES DOWN ACROSS THE AREA EAST OF I-65 IN THE GARLAND AREA. |
| 19:26 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Bradley | Escambia, AL | PUBLIC REPORTS TREES DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR |
| 19:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ssw Mckenzie | Conecuh, AL | HARDWOOD TREES UPROOTED. |
| 19:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sw Mckenzie | Butler, AL | LARGE TREE UPROOTED AND BLOWN ONTO MOBILE HOME. |
| 19:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Mckenzie | Butler, AL | COUNTY EM REPORTS TREES DOWN ON TWO HOUSES, CITY WORKSHOP SUSTAINED DAMAGE, AND AT LEAST ONE BARN DESTROYED BY STRONG WINDS. |
| 19:33 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | River Falls | Covington, AL | PUBLIC REPORTS TREE DOWN IN RIVER FALLS AND MINOR DAMAGE TO GAS STATTION AWNING. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 19:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | River Falls | Covington, AL | TREES DOWN ALONG WITH AWNINGS RIPPED OFF THREE HOMES AND A GAS STATION IN THE RIVER FALLS/GANT AREA. |
| 19:46 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Se Andalusia | Covington, AL | TREES REPORTED DOWN ON POWER LINES ON LINDSEY BRIDGE RD. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR. |
| 19:51 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ese Greenville | Butler, AL | LARGE TREE ACROSS MASHVILLE RD EAST OF GREENVILLE. |
| 19:54 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 Sw Opp | Covington, AL | TREES REPORTED DOWN ON POWER LINES ALONG SUBSTATION RD NEAR ONYCHA. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR. |
| 19:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Pigeon Creek | Butler, AL | TREES REPORTED DOWN ALONG PIGEON CREEK RD. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR. |
| 19:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nnw Dozier | Crenshaw, AL | POWER LINES REPORTED DOWN ALONG LEON TOWER RD. RELAYED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 20:01 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Se Brantley | Crenshaw, AL | TREES AND POWER LINES REPORTED DOWN. TIME ESTIMATED VIA RADAR. |
| 20:04 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Brantley | Crenshaw, AL | PUBLIC REPORTS TREES DOWN IN BRANTLEY. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 20:09 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nnw Elba | Coffee, AL | TREES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 189 NORTH IN COFFEE COUNTY. |
| 20:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Dozier | Crenshaw, AL | REPORTS OF TREES DOWN IN AND AROUND DOZIER WITH THUNDERSTORM PASSAGE. |
| 20:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 N Brantley | Crenshaw, AL | DAMAGE TO MULTIPLE STRUCTURES IN THE COMMUNITY OF BRANTLEY. |
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 March 24, 2016
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.