EF0 tornado, Wetumpka to Ware, Alabama, January 21, 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

January 21, 2017

Touchdown

7:57 AM CST (13:57 UTC)

Lifted

7:58 AM CST (13:58 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

90 yards (82 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Elmore County

Touchdown point

32.436, -86.106

Lift-off point

32.439, -86.105

Record number

1701210757-01

49 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 107 mph.

• Cedar tree uprooted. Below EF-0 strength.
• Cedar tree uprooted. Below EF-0 strength.
• One pine snapped. Below EF-0 strength.
• Estimated End Point EF-1 90 MPH Approx 200 yds wide

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

After over a week of near-record to record high temperatures, several upper-level disturbances followed by a strong upper-level low pressure system produced multiple rounds of severe weather across Central Alabama. This system was characterized by strong upper-level winds and very cold upper-level temperatures. The first round produced one brief, weak tornado in St. Clair County on the evening of January 19. The second round occurred on the morning of January 20 with 12 tornadoes across Marengo, Elmore, Macon, Lee, Pike, and Barbour Counties. A third round produced damaging straight line winds on the night of January 21, including in the Birmingham metro area where the Birmingham airport measured a 75 mph wind gust and in Oneonta where 80 mph straight-line winds caused significant damage. A brief tornado also occurred in Tuscaloosa County with this activity. Finally, a fourth round moved through during the day on January 22 with 3 tornadoes across Bullock and Lee Counties.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in central Elmore County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The tornado touched down on the north side of the Coosa River, south of South Boundary Street. The tornado tracked north northeast right into the city of Wetumpka. Just after crossing South Boundary Street, the tornado began snapping and uprooting trees. The strongest winds appeared to be between West Bridge Street and West Tuskeena Street where several large trees were uprooted and a church was damaged. The tornado continued north northeast where several more trees were uprooted and several structures received minor roof damage. The tornado lifted near Wetumpka City Park and North Bridge Street.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southern Elmore County near Willow Springs Road and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph. The tornado touched down briefly just south of Willow Springs Road and moved north northeast, parallel to Harwell Mill Creek, uprooting a dozen trees. One tree fell on and destroyed an outbuilding. The tornado lifted quickly just north of Willow Springs Road and east of Ross Ridge Lane.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southern Elmore County near Emerald Mountain and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 75 mph. The tornado touched down briefly along Rifle Range Road near Emerald Mountain Christian Academy, cause damage to fencing and metal siding at the school. The tornado tracked northeast before quickly lifting east of Mountain Laurel Road.

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

5 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:52 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 09:56 UTC and running to 15:27 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 12:54 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.

Maxwell Afb/Montgom (MXF), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:59 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

59 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.