EF1 tornado, Melrose to Palmetto, Alabama, November 29, 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

November 29, 2016

Touchdown

7:15 PM CST (01:15 UTC)

Lifted

7:25 PM CST (01:25 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

5.3 miles (8.5 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Pickens County

Touchdown point

33.452, -88.150

Lift-off point

33.496, -88.077

Record number

1611291915-01

4 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 105 mph.

• Numerous trees snapped off on the western edge of path. Trees down toward the southeast 130-160.
• Trees snapped. This appears to be the initial tornado touch down point of Buncomb Creek EF-1 Tornado.
• Several trees were damaged but this area was removed from tornado path. Strong damaging inflow winds.
• Small trees damaged. End point of Buncomb Creek EF-1 Tornado.

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

A warm front moved northward during the day on Tuesday, November 29th, and surface temperatures climbed into the 70s across north Alabama. Low level shear and storm relative helicity increased over west Alabama Tuesday evening and discrete supercells developed over west Alabama.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Pickens County just northeast of Ethelsville and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated near 95 mph.||The tornado touched down about 5 miles northeast of Ethelsville on County Road 35. A few trees were snapped off around this location but the initial damage was rather minor. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Antiach Church Road where it continued snapping off and uprooting trees. The tornado then approached County Road 34 where the tornado was at its maximum intensity. Numerous trees were snapped off and were uprooted on both sides of the tornado path. Several outbuildings were either damaged or destroyed. The tornado continued northeast where it crossed Shawtone Road, Woodard Road, and Miller Road. The tornado lifted just before it crossed County Road 27. There were sporadic trees blown down within one mile on the southern side path. This damage was due to strong inflow winds into the storm.

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

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:51 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.

Columbus Afb (CBM), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:17 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.