Tornadoes · United States · Alabama

2017 tornadoes in Alabama

57 tornadoes touched down in Alabama in 2017, 62 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2016 2018 The whole country in 2017

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 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.

Every tornado in Alabama in 2017

January 2 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
January 2	4:24 PM CST	EF1	Bullock	3.4	485
January 2	7:35 PM CST	EF2	Houston	7.8	500	$550,000
January 2	7:46 PM CST	EF1	Houston	2.5	200	$100,000

January 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 19	5:58 PM CST	EF1	St. Clair	0.7	175

January 21 12 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
January 21	5:14 AM CST	EF2	Choctaw	20.4	800	4	$750,000
January 21	5:55 AM CST	EF1	Marengo	4.2	900
January 21	7:55 AM CST	EF1	Elmore	0.7	200
January 21	7:55 AM CST	EF1	Elmore	1.5	450
January 21	7:57 AM CST	EF0	Elmore	0.2	90
January 21	8:48 AM CST	EF1	Lee	2.8	100
January 21	8:49 AM CST	EF0	Lee	2.4	150
January 21	8:55 AM CST	EF1	Pike	37.3	400
January 21	8:56 AM CST	EF0	Lee	1.1	150
January 21	9:00 AM CST	EF0	Lee	0.8	150
January 21	9:08 AM CST	EF0	Lee	0.1	50
January 21	9:19 AM CST	EF1	Lee	0.9	300

January 22 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
January 22	12:36 PM CST	EF0	Tuscaloosa	0.3	200
January 22	1:02 PM CST	EF1	Henry	5.5	100	$100,000
January 22	1:06 PM CST	EF1	Bullock	2.0	320
January 22	1:46 PM CST	EF0	Lee	4.8	200
January 22	2:00 PM CST	EF1	Lee	3.1	540

February 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 7	1:42 PM CST	EF0	Montgomery	0.2	85
February 7	3:23 PM CST	EF0	Covington	0.5	150		1	$100,000

April 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 3	8:54 AM CDT	EF0	Crenshaw	0.1	25			$2,000

April 5 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 5	10:49 AM CDT	EF2	Quitman to GA	10.4	1,140	$600,000
April 5	4:44 PM CDT	EF0	Cleburne	0.3	75
April 5	8:39 PM CDT	EF1	Chambers	2.0	125

April 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	5:40 PM CDT	EF0	Jackson	2.2	200
April 22	5:40 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman	4.4	200

April 27 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
April 27	9:03 AM CDT	EF1	Montgomery	5.6	250
April 27	11:25 AM CDT	EF1	Pike	4.9	150
April 27	4:18 PM CDT	EF0	Barbour	1.2	75
April 27	5:59 PM CDT	EF0	Barbour	1.3	175	3

April 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 30	2:12 PM CDT	EF0	Cullman	10.1	215

June 21 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 21	3:02 PM CDT	EF0	Baldwin	0.1	25
June 21	3:08 PM CDT	EF0	Escambia	0.8	25
June 21	6:57 PM CDT	EF1	Covington	4.8	75	$50,000
June 21	8:35 PM CDT	EF0	Clarke	0.1	25	$25,000

June 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	12:21 PM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	8.3	255		4
June 22	2:42 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	0.3	50

August 31 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
August 31	3:40 PM CDT	EF2	Pickens	31.2	600	6
August 31	6:57 PM CDT	EF1	Bibb	6.5	100
August 31	7:28 PM CDT	EF1	Bibb	0.6	200
August 31	7:42 PM CDT	EF0	Bibb	0.3	35
August 31	8:58 PM CDT	EF2	Cullman	13.6	300

October 7 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
October 7	1:58 PM CDT	EF0	Baldwin	0.1	25
October 7	4:47 PM CDT	EF0	Mobile	0.3	25	$50,000
October 7	6:26 PM CDT	EF0	Butler	0.6	200	$10,000
October 7	6:34 PM CDT	EF0	Baldwin	0.1	25	$5,000
October 7	6:55 PM CDT	EF0	Lowndes	2.9	400
October 7	7:31 PM CDT	EF1	Autauga	3.9	625
October 7	8:20 PM CDT	EF0	Chilton	3.0	50
October 7	8:47 PM CDT	EF1	Chilton	5.9	150

October 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 23	2:28 AM CDT	EF1	Morgan	2.4	75

November 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
November 18	5:01 PM CST	EF1	Colbert	1.7	200
November 18	5:18 PM CST	EF1	Lawrence	4.3	300

December 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 20	10:40 AM CST	EF0	Randolph	3.2	16

Crossed into Alabama

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Alabama. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 22	3:20 PM CDT	EF0	Tishomingo, MS to AL	9.0	200			$100,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama The live radar over Alabama

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.