Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2017
EF0 tornado, Andalusia, Alabama, February 7, 2017
This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Covington County on February 7, 2017, touching down at 3:23 PM CST and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $100,000 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
- February 7, 2017
- Touchdown
- 3:23 PM CST (21:23 UTC)
- Lifted
- 3:24 PM CST (21:24 UTC)
- On the ground
- 1 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $100,000
- County
- Covington County
- Touchdown point
- 31.314, -86.463
- Lift-off point
- 31.315, -86.455
- Record number
- 1702071523-01
The damage survey
7 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 84 mph.
- using DI as a proxy for overturned campers and large RVs
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
Severe thunderstorms rapidly developed ahead of an approaching strong cold front. Thunderstorms produced large hail, damaging winds and a tornado.
A tornado moved across an area on the east side of Andalusia which affected two residential areas and a campground. The tornado caused shingle damage to several roofs, downed several trees, and overturned several campers and RVs. One individual suffered minor injuries. Damage also occurred to a large metal storage building at the Covington County Water Authority. Numerous water pipes from the water facility were tossed by the tornado.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:50 UTC and running to 23:11 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:50 UTC | 23:11 UTC | Tornado Watch | 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 19:58 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 surface observations
Andalusia (79J), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:44 UTC | 70 | 63 | 0° 0 kt | 1009.8 | TSRA | |
| 19:49 UTC | 70 | 63 | 240° 4 kt | 1010.5 | +TSRA | |
| 19:52 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 260° 5 kt | 1010.5 | +TSRA | |
| 19:56 UTC | 68 | 64 | 270° 8 kt | 1010.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 20:02 UTC | 68 | 64 | 240° 6 kt | 1010.8 | +TSRA BR | |
| 20:05 UTC | 68 | 64 | 240° 5 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:13 UTC | 68 | 64 | 6 kt | 1011.2 | +TSRA BR | |
| 20:20 UTC | 68 | 64 | 240° 6 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:23 UTC | 68 | 64 | 5 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:27 UTC | 68 | 64 | 240° 5 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:37 UTC | 68 | 64 | 5 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:43 UTC | 68 | 64 | 250° 3 kt | 1010.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 20:50 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 0° 0 kt | 1010.2 | TSRA BR | |
| 20:56 UTC | 68 | 64 | 0° 0 kt | 1010.2 | TSRA BR | |
| 21:03 UTC | 68 | 63 | 0° 0 kt | 1010.2 | -TSRA | |
| 21:17 UTC | 67 | 64 | 40° 5 kt | 1009.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 21:26 UTC | 67 | 63 | 320° 7 kt | 1010.5 | +TSRA BR | |
| 21:29 UTC | 66 | 61 | 300° 12 kt | 20 | 1011.9 | +TSRA |
| 21:34 UTC | 64 | 60 | 350° 13 kt | 22 | 1011.2 | +RA BR |
| 21:39 UTC | 64 | 60 | 310° 14 kt | 22 | 1010.8 | +TSRA BR |
| 21:41 UTC | 64 | 59 | 290° 16 kt | 21 | 1011.2 | +TSRA |
| 21:43 UTC | 64 | 58 | 280° 15 kt | 21 | 1011.2 | TSRA |
| 21:56 UTC | 64 | 59 | 300° 10 kt | 1010.8 | TSRA | |
| 22:56 UTC | 62 | 58 | 80° 10 kt | 1008.5 | TSRA |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:23 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 1 Ene Andalusia | Covington, AL | A TORNADO MOVED ACROSS A HALF MILE AREA ON THE EAST SIDE OF ANDALUSIA WHICH AFFECTED TWO RESIDENTIAL AREAS AND A CAMPGROUND. THE TORNADO CAUSED SHINGLE DAMAGE TO SEVERAL ROOFS, DOWNED SEVERAL TREES, AND OVERTURNED SEVERA |
| 21:26 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Andalusia | Covington, AL | DAMAGE TO HOUSES AND A CAMPGROUND. ALSO DAMAGE TO FENCING AT A BASEBALL FIELD ALONG WITH TREE DAMAGE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of February 7, 2017
15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 7 | 9:16 AM CST | EF0 | Houston, TN | 0.5 | 50 | $15,000 | ||
| February 7 | 10:20 AM CST | EF2 | Livingston Parish, LA | 23.1 | 750 | 3 | ||
| February 7 | 10:51 AM CST | EF0 | Jefferson Parish, LA | 0.9 | 25 | |||
| February 7 | 11:04 AM CST | EF1 | Ascension Parish, LA | 6.1 | 150 | 1 | ||
| February 7 | 11:12 AM CST | EF3 | Orleans Parish, LA | 10.1 | 600 | 33 | ||
| February 7 | 11:46 AM CST | EF2 | Livingston Parish, LA | 19.0 | 250 | 3 | ||
| February 7 | 12:36 PM CST | EF0 | Saint Bernard Parish, LA | 2.6 | 25 | |||
| February 7 | 1:04 PM CST | Unrated | Saint Bernard Parish, LA | 7.7 | 200 | |||
| February 7 | 1:42 PM CST | EF0 | Montgomery, AL | 0.2 | 85 | |||
| February 7 | 4:36 PM EST | EF1 | Harris, GA | 2.3 | 250 | $150,000 | ||
| February 7 | 4:07 PM CST | EF2 | Scott, MS | 4.8 | 880 | $350,000 | ||
| February 7 | 5:23 PM CST | EF1 | Jasper, MS | 3.1 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| February 7 | 7:40 PM CST | EF0 | Trigg, KY | 1.8 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| February 7 | 10:00 PM EST | EF1 | Bradford, FL | 1.1 | 75 | |||
| February 7 | 10:37 PM EST | EF1 | Saint Johns, FL | 0.5 | 160 |
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.