Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2019

EF0 tornado, Allgood to Oneonta Robbins Arpt, Alabama, March 14, 2019

Name: EF0 tornado, Allgood to Oneonta Robbins Arpt, Alabama, March 14, 2019
Start: 2019-03-14T22:04:00.000Z
End: 2019-03-14T22:09:00.000Z
Location: Allgood to Oneonta Robbins Arpt, Alabama

From Allgood to Oneonta Robbins Arpt, this EF0 tornado ran 2.6 miles across Blount County on March 14, 2019, touching down at 5:04 PM CDT and reaching 115 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

The record

Rating: EF0
Date: March 14, 2019
Touchdown: 5:04 PM CDT (22:04 UTC)
Lifted: 5:09 PM CDT (22:09 UTC)
On the ground: 5 minutes
Path length: 2.6 miles (4.2 km)
Path width: 115 yards (105 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Blount County
Touchdown point: 33.926, -86.544
Lift-off point: 33.948, -86.508
Record number: 1903141604-01

The damage survey

76 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 90 mph.

Damage to four different farm structures at this location.
Possibly hundreds of trees snapped and uprooted along road, moving northeastward into forested area.
Dozens of trees snapped and uprooted. One large tree fell onto back patio of a home.
Many trees down or uprooted, nearby minor structure damage.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A widespread severe weather event occurred across central Alabama aduring the afternoon and evening hours on Thursday, March 14th. The event began in the northwest counties and spread eastward all the way to the Georgia state line. A strong low level jet of 40-50 knots, combined with moderate instability (1000-1500 J/kg) and 0-6km bulk shear of 55-50 knots, produced an atmosphere favorable for severe thunderstorms and supercells.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Blount County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph.||The tornado touched down along Tim King Road with several soft and hardwood trees uprooted. It tracked northeast and into a valley region. Many locations throughout the valley were inaccessible due to the terrain. The tornado moved into slightly higher ground as it lifted before reaching Sawyer Mountain Road, with additional tree damage and damage to a porch structure on a well-built single family home.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Blount County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 90 mph.||The tornado touched down near Tidwell Hollow Rd where several soft and hardwood trees were damaged and uprooted. The tornado tracked northeast along Tidwell Hollow Rd crossing Lake Drive. It then crossed over a mobile home park where additional trees were uprooted and numerous mobile homes were severely damaged or destroyed from falling trees. It is noteworthy that nearly all of the mobile homes and several vehicles damaged were due to uprooted trees and not direct wind damage. The tornado continued northeast along Highway 75, where an outdoor building was completely destroyed. The tornado then crossed Boat Landing Road where numerous soft and hardwood trees were snapped or uprooted. This is the approximate location of where the tornado first reached EF1 intensity. The tornado then continued east along Springville Blvd., where additional trees were uprooted and several single family homes sustained minor roof damage. A destroyed barn was also observed near Old Brook Lane. The tornado continued eastward and weakened near Woodard Drive where additional trees were uprooted. Farther east-northeastward, more damage from the tornado was observed from a second survey team. Most of the damage throughout the remainder of the track was non-contiguous and primarily affected trees and vegetation. The tornado crossed into Etowah County near Blakely Road.

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

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 14, 1:41 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 14, 1:41 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 14, 12:58 PM CDT, 4 hours 6 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Birmingham AL
1258 PM CDT Thu Mar 14 2019

ALZ011>015-017>050-152100-
Marion-Lamar-Fayette-Winston-Walker-Blount-Etowah-Calhoun-Cherokee-
Cleburne-Pickens-Tuscaloosa-Jefferson-Shelby-St. Clair-Talladega-
Clay-Randolph-Sumter-Greene-Hale-Perry-Bibb-Chilton-Coosa-Tallapoosa-
Chambers-Marengo-Dallas-Autauga-Lowndes-Elmore-Montgomery-Macon-
Bullock-Lee-Russell-Pike-Barbour-
1258 PM CDT Thu Mar 14 2019

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the counties served by the
National Weather Service office in Birmingham.

.DAY ONE...Outlook through Tonight.

Severe storms are possible through 1 AM Friday. While isolated
severe storms are possible as far south as a Demopolis to Clanton to
Wedowee line, the highest threat will be along and west of the
Interstate 59 corridor. Threats will include isolated tornadoes and
quarter size hail, with isolated damaging winds also possible.

Breezy conditions will continue today. Gradient winds could gust as
high as 35 mph through 6 PM along and north of a Demopolis to Calera
to Wedowee line.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday.

Temperatures are expected to drop into the low 30s in far northern
counties on Sunday morning, and some isolated locations could drop
below freezing.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Activation of storm spotters and emergency management may be needed
this afternoon and evening.

08

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:02 PM CDT, 1 hour 2 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:24 PM CDT, 40 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:35 PM CDT, 29 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
435 PM CDT THU MAR 14 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0350 PM     HAIL             4 N MOORES BRIDGE       33.51N 87.80W
03/14/2019  E0.88 INCH       TUSCALOOSA         AL   PUBLIC

&&

MAL

Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:36 PM CDT, 28 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:37 PM CDT, 27 minutes before

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Local storm report, Mar 14, 4:40 PM CDT, 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
440 PM CDT THU MAR 14 2019

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0400 PM     HAIL             1 S JASPER              33.82N 87.28W
03/14/2019  E1.00 INCH       WALKER             AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

MAL

The surface observations

Gadsden Municipal (Awos) (GAD), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:06 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2019 tornado in Alabama Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 14, 2019

31 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 14	9:18 AM CDT	EF2	Carlisle, KY	16.7	300	1	$1.5 million
March 14	10:10 AM CDT	EF1	Union, KY	9.9	125	1	$60,000
March 14	11:14 AM CDT	EF0	Henderson, KY	1.3	100		$4,000
March 14	11:27 AM CDT	EF0	Graves, KY	0.7	75		$2,000
March 14	12:42 PM CDT	EF0	Henderson, KY	1.2	100		$8,000
March 14	2:06 PM EDT	EF1	Jackson, IN	1.2	40		$70,000
March 14	2:14 PM EDT	EF0	Washington, IN	3.0	35		$30,000
March 14	1:15 PM CDT	EF0	Webster, KY	2.3	50		$1,000
March 14	1:51 PM CDT	EF0	Lake, IN	1.5	75
March 14	4:10 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman, AL	11.1	112
March 14	5:05 PM CDT	EF1	Blount, AL	17.2	1,175
March 14	5:25 PM CDT	EF0	Tuscaloosa, AL	1.2	50
March 14	6:45 PM EDT	EF2	Shiawassee, MI	18.2	700		$9.8 million
March 14	6:47 PM EDT	EF0	Shiawassee, MI	6.4	100		$50,000
March 14	5:54 PM CDT	EF1	St. Clair, AL	4.7	530
March 14	7:09 PM EDT	EF0	Genesee, MI	8.1	125		$75,000
March 14	6:19 PM CDT	EF0	Perry, AL	4.5	100
March 14	6:22 PM CDT	EF0	Calhoun, AL	1.2	200
March 14	7:24 PM EDT	EF0	Genesee, MI	6.5	75		$100,000
March 14	6:37 PM CDT	EF1	Perry, AL	9.4	300
March 14	6:39 PM CDT	EF0	Marengo, AL	5.1	150
March 14	8:06 PM EDT	EF0	Floyd, GA	1.7	150		$50,000
March 14	8:11 PM EDT	EF0	Stark, OH	8.7	50		$100,000
March 14	8:23 PM EDT	EF0	Stark, OH	1.6	100		$100,000
March 14	7:27 PM CDT	EF0	Dallas, AL	2.9	300
March 14	7:39 PM CDT	EF0	Chilton, AL	11.9	350
March 14	8:21 PM CDT	EF0	Coosa, AL	0.6	40
March 14	8:44 PM CDT	EF1	Autauga, AL	7.1	250
March 14	8:46 PM CDT	EF0	Coosa, AL	2.1	150
March 14	9:32 PM CDT	EF2	Elmore, AL	8.6	650
March 14	10:00 PM CDT	EF0	Randolph, AL	4.4	75

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.