EF0 tornado, Jemison, Alabama, February 7, 2018

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

February 7, 2018

Touchdown

6:03 AM CST (12:03 UTC)

Lifted

6:06 AM CST (12:06 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Chilton County

Touchdown point

32.958, -86.784

Lift-off point

32.964, -86.742

Record number

1802070603-01

29 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 82 mph.

• A few additional pines down
• Trees uprooted around and near home on Hwy 139.
• End point, estimated from hwy 139.

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

A line of thunderstorms moved across Central Alabama during the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 7, 2018. Supercells embedded within the line were responsible for producing large hail, damaging winds, and several tornadoes. Severe weather was not anticipated as most model guidance indicated insufficient instability and wind shear for the development of supercells, tornadoes and other severe convective hazards. Even so, a marginal risk was highlighted for the western and southern portions of Central Alabama. The storms exhibited organization and frequent lightning, indicators that instability was likely higher than expected. The radar signatures were marginal at best and therefore, only a few Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued during the event.

The National Weather Service surveyed damage in northern Chilton County and determined the damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. The tornado began near the intersection of County Road 25 and County Road 42, about 2 miles west of the city of Jemison, and traveled east along County Road 42. Damage was minimal at first and confined to downed limbs and a loss of metal roofing and shingles on a few structures. The tornado quickly intensified and grew wider near the intersection of County Road 42 and County Road 38, where numerous structures sustained damage. The St. James Highland Bible Church lost a significant portion of its metal roof and wooden trusses. The roof did not appear to be particularly well constructed, and the damage was consistent with winds near 80 mph. Supporting evidence for the classification of a tornado was quite strong in this location, and debris from the church was thrown northward across the path of the tornado. Several homes near this location also sustained a loss of shingles and other roof covering materials. The tornado weakened somewhat as it moved towards downtown Jemison, where falling trees caused significant damage to mobile homes near the intersection of Patton Street and Hotel Street. As the tornado moved just east of U.S. Highway 31, damage was relatively minor and limited to carports, shingles, and a few uprooted trees. The tornado dissipated about one quarter mile east of U.S. Highway 31 near Chilton Circle.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:43 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.

Alabaster (EET), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 23 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:05 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 2018 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

10 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.