EF1 tornado, Red Rock to Hobgood Siding, Alabama, December 16, 2019

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

December 16, 2019

Touchdown

4:50 PM CST (22:50 UTC)

Lifted

4:52 PM CST (22:52 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Colbert County

Touchdown point

34.704, -87.871

Lift-off point

34.708, -87.860

Record number

1912161650-01

80 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• about 100 yards down the driveway
• Walls of a small shed detached and blown away.
• Outdoor shed with roof and walls completely removed
• architectural shingles removed

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

During the late afternoon and evening hours, a broken line of severe thunderstorms pushed rapidly east across north Alabama. The thunderstorms produced at least (6) tornadoes, numerous reports of wind damage and a couple reports of large hail in north Alabama.

A brief tornado touched down along Patrick Lane just west of Red Rock Road, crossed northeast and lifted back up|in a grove of trees just behind a house. The worst damage was in this grove of trees, where some tree trunks were snapped.

The damage path began on Underwood Mountain Road where several small hardwood trees were snapped. Tree damage continued on a northeast track onto County Farm Road where several large hardwood trees were both snapped and uprooted. More extensive damage was seen along Lynn Drive, Thomas Road, and Woodmont Drive where several residential structures sustained at |least minor roof damage and many large hardwood trees were uprooted and snapped. At least three sheds were heavily damaged and metal roofing materials were lifted into trees or blown |downstream. Tree damage continued on a path to Foster Nolen Road, where the most extensive damage occurred. Significant roof damage was observed on at least three single family homes. A roof was completely blown off of a brick single family residence, where bricks were blown off the western facing wall and several windows were blown out. A camping trailer was overturned and several |small sheds were destroyed. Extensive tree damage was seen with many large hardwood trees uprooted and snapped near the base. There was evidence suggesting the tornado cycled around this |location before continuing east.||Tree damage continued along US-43 where several hardwood trees were snapped. Four trailers were overturned at the Longhorn R Arena off of 3 Mile Lane and several large hardwood trees were |uprooted. Extensive shingle damage occurred at one brick single family residence on the eastern side of 3 Mile Lane. Tree damage continued along the path through Gargis Lane, where branches were |snapped on a few smaller hardwood trees. Additional damage was found along Alabama Highway 20. A tin barn was destroyed behind a house, and some shingle/roof damage and tree damage was observed.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:26 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:48 UTC and running to 01:35 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:25 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.

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:51 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 2019 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

37 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.