EF1 tornado, Adville to Locust Fork, Alabama, March 31, 2016

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

March 31, 2016

Touchdown

9:42 PM CDT (02:42 UTC)

Lifted

9:44 PM CDT (02:44 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

275 yards (251 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Blount County

Touchdown point

33.877, -86.625

Lift-off point

33.880, -86.621

Record number

1603312042-01

8 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 90 mph.

• some shingles removed <20%. Several broken windows.
• Minor roof damage to home. Small pontoon boat lofted. Several softwoods snapped and uprooted.
• Around one dozen softwoods snapped or uprooted.

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

A very warm and unstable air mass developed over west Alabama by the late afternoon on March 31st. Surface air temperatures warmed into the upper 70s with surface dewpoints in the upper 60s. Thunderstorms developed rapidly over Mississippi and spread into central Alabama during the evening hours. 0-6 km Bulk Shear values increased to between 50 and 60 knots and the storms quickly became severe, including tornadoes.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southern Blount County just south of Locust Fork and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado. Maximum winds were estimated to be around 90 mph. The tornado was very briefly on the ground near the intersection of Spunky Hollow Road and Sunrise Lane just south of Locust Fork. A metal storage barn with wood framing was heavily damaged and the intact roof was lofted nearly 50 yards. Additionally, a dozen softwood trees were uprooted and/or snapped in this area of damage. A brick home sustained only minor roof damage. Another home in the path sustained minor roof damage and a small pontoon boat was lofted into the side of the home. On the left edge of the path, a single family home suffered the loss of some roofing materials and windows broken by debris. Another dozen softwoods were uprooted and/or snapped with several hardwoods also uprooted. The tornado lifted just northeast of Sunrise Lane.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:17 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:49 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:00 UTC and running to 03:25 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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 Birmingham radar (KBMX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:40 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

19 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.