EF0 tornado, Carroll Xrds, Alabama, April 22, 2017

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   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

EF0

Date

April 22, 2017

Touchdown

5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)

Lifted

5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

34.790, -86.150

Lift-off point

34.790, -86.110

Record number

1704221640-01

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• move pt he 150 yd. MOVED!

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

Numerous showers and thunderstorms moved into and developed over north Alabama in an unstable and moderately sheared environment. A few supercells developed amongst these storms producing large hail and a couple of tornadoes.

A National Weather Service survey team in coordination with Jackson County Emergency Managment and the University of Alabama in Huntsville found evidence of an EF-0 tornado near the Skyline area. Damage indicators in the form of extensive softwood tree damage (uprooted or snapped) were found in the vicinity of areas north of CR 17 and east of CR 79.||North of CR 17, west of Manning Dr., several trees were snapped looking into the valley on the south face of Fork Mountain. Damage continued in a 150-200 yard path through Manning Dr. which uprooted several trees in a noticeable convergent pattern (east to east-northeast). Peak winds of approximately 85 mph were observed at this location.||Several trees were uprooted or sustained large limb damage east of Manning Dr. toward |CR 79. The tornado appeared to begin to shrink and decrease in strength near CR 79. A few uprooted trees were noted east of CR 79 in the vicinity of Gizzard Point Rd. ||It is worth noting that some areas outside of the path, mainly to the south, experienced|some tree damage as well. Based off radar signatures, and orientation of debris, this was|caused by straight line winds adjacent to the tornado.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:39 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:56 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:36 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 Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:38 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 2017 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.