EF0 tornado, Weaver to Weaver Mcminn Arpt, Alabama, March 19, 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

March 19, 2018

Touchdown

9:07 PM CDT (02:07 UTC)

Lifted

9:10 PM CDT (02:10 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.4 km)

Path width

138 yards (126 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Calhoun County

Touchdown point

33.750, -85.846

Lift-off point

33.742, -85.836

Record number

1803192007-01

271 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABR and NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 150 mph.

• trees pointed north and southeast. near center
• possible RFD damage, no splatter
• Pointing north. Trees on a home
• Numerous Hardwoods snapped

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

Six tornadoes and hail up to 3 inches in diameter affected the northern areas of Central Alabama on the afternoon and evening hours of March 19th, with a rare PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) Tornado Watch issued for a large portion of Central Alabama. An environment favorable for significant severe thunderstorms developed as a low-amplitude upper-level trough moved into the region with a deepening surface low passing across far north Alabama. These two features resulted in a deep column of strong wind shear with 0-6km Bulk Shear values of 60-70 knots. Additionally, moist southerly flow, warm surface temperatures, and colder temperatures aloft yielded a moderately unstable air mass. Initially, thunderstorms were producing large to very large hail. However, the tornado threat increased in the late afternoon and evening hours as wind speeds at low levels increased with the arrival of a low-level jet.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in central Calhoun County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph. The tornado damage began in a wooded area just southwest of the intersection of Alexandria Road and Saks Road where minor timber damage was observed. Damage was largely confined to timber damage until it entered a residential area just north of Finks Lake. The tornado caused notable roof damage on the west and south sides of a home near the north edge of the lake while a residence immediately to the east suffered the loss of a few shingles. A softwood tree was uprooted to the west of the residence that suffered the most roof damage as well. The tornado continued further southeast across Finks Lake where a few softwood trees were uprooted on both the north and south sides of the lake. A small boat dock on the southeast side of the lake suffered peel back of a portion of its roof, and a camper was flipped over just off of Cane Creek Road. The camper did not appear to have an awning or canopy extended and other than having stabilizers deployed had no anchoring. The tornado continued southeast across Cane Creek Road where a softwood tree was uprooted and a horse trailer was blown onto its side in an open field further southeast. The tornado then lifted in this field.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:48 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:29 UTC and running to 05:00 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:57 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.

Anniston (ANB), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 107 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:05 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

19 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.