EF1 tornado, Champion to Henry Lake, Alabama, March 19, 2018

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 19, 2018

Touchdown

7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)

Lifted

7:56 PM CDT (00:56 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

6.4 miles (10.3 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

St. Clair and Blount counties

Touchdown point

33.852, -86.415

Lift-off point

33.854, -86.304

Record number

1803191850-01

81 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

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 extreme southeast Blount County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 80 mph. The tornado began just west of Jones Chapel Loop Road with minor tree damage. The tornado then moved east and crossed Daylily Road where dozens of trees were uprooted. The tornado then crossed County Road 24 and into St. Clair County.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern St. Clair County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph. This tornado began just west of the St. Clair/Blount County line near Jones Chapel Loop Road. The tornado crossed Blount Mountain along Walker Gap Road and crossed Crawford Cove Road near Highway 11. Trees in this area were mainly uprooted with only a few snapped off. The tornado continued eastbound and eventually lifted near the Interstate 59 rest area just south of the Ashville exit. The majority of the damage was due to trees falling on structures and power lines.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern St. Clair County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph. The tornado touched down just northeast of Ashville along Highway 411. The tornado continued east northeast and uprooted and snapped numerous pine trees. The tornado intensified as it approached the Etowah County line where structural damage became evident. One house was moved off its foundation with a complete loss of roofing materials. Stands of trees were snapped off near their bases, including both hardwoods and softwoods. The tornado then crossed Neely Henry Lake and into Etowah County.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:29 UTC and running to 03:23 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 20:00 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.

Gadsden Municipal (Awos) (GAD), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:50 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.