EF2 tornado, Batesville to Barges, Alabama, March 3, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

March 3, 2019

Touchdown

3:58 PM CST (21:58 UTC)

Lifted

4:32 PM CST (22:32 UTC)

On the ground

34 minutes

Path length

30.9 miles (49.7 km)

Path width

860 yards (786 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$415,000

Counties

Quitman, Barbour, Stewart and Webster counties

Touchdown point

31.948, -85.154

Lift-off point

31.964, -84.629

Record number

1903031558-01

152 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 132 mph.

• Numerous pine trees snapped and uprooted both sides of highway.
• A lot of snaps and uproots.
• Extensive tree damage: trees snapped, uprooted, and laid over. 1 tree was 1.5-2 feet in diameter.
• Crossed over the river into GA

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

On the morning of Sunday March 3rd, 2019, an upper-level disturbance moved eastward from the Southern Plains into the southern Gulf Coast States. As favorable upper-level support and deep-layer forcing approached the lower Mississippi River Valley, a surface low pressure developed and moved northeastward into Central Alabama by late morning. Ahead of this surface low, a warm front initially along the Florida Panhandle moved northward allowing for the transport of warm, moist unstable air into southern and southeastern Central Alabama. This frontal boundary eventually became more stationary and stalled out north of the I-85 corridor as the strengthening surface low moved eastward. During this time, a large area of elevated thunderstorms affected portions northern Central Alabama while supercell thunderstorms initiated across the favorable warm sector. As these supercells intensified during the afternoon, parameters became favorable for tornadic thunderstorms in an area along and south of the I-85 corridor.

This event featured all modes of severe weather in our forecast area, including 13 tornadoes, numerous reports of straight-line wind damage, and even large hail. The 13 tornadoes consisted of 1 EF3, 2 EF2s, 6 EF1s, and 4 EF0s. This is a very high number of tornadoes for our forecast area for a single event. This compares with 7 tornadoes in the 1/22/17 event, 8 tornadoes in the 1/2/17 event, and 10 tornadoes in the 3/1/07 event. This may have been the most tornadoes for a single event in our area since the Hurricane Ivan tornadoes back in 2004. The synoptic pattern was characterized by a fast-moving upper trough through relatively zonal flow. The forecast area was under the favorable right entrance region of the upper jet with lots of upper level divergence. An 850 mb jet near or in excess of 50 knots was also present, which is another typical ingredient for severe weather in this part of the country in the cool season. Cool season levels of shear (0-1 km shear > 30 knots and 0-6 km shear > 50 knots) were overlaid with moderate levels of instability (SBCAPE 1500 j/kg), as opposed to more typical winter SBCAPE < 500 j/kg. Without this strong low-level jet, the low-level shear values would have been weaker and we would have probably seen less tornadoes.

A powerful storm system moved across the mid-south and southeast United States producing widespread severe weather and numerous tornadoes. In middle Georgia, significant damage from fourteen separate tornadoes was observed. Thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted and numerous homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Across central Georgia, incredibly, no deaths were reported, with only around a dozen minor injuries.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Barbour County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph.||A tornado touched down near Mary C Smith Road, just north of County Road 79. The initial damage was limited to trees being snapped and uprooted. The tornado tracked eastward and crossed County Road 79 and Reverend Crawford Road. Once again, there were numerous trees snapped and uprooted in these areas. The most significant damage occurred just east of Reverend Crawford Road, where all trees in a large area were completely mowed down. Additionally, a large wooden double power pole was also knocked down. At this point, the tornado turned slightly to the right, eventually lifting just east of Lee Clayton Road. Hundreds of additional trees were snapped and uprooted.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Barbour County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 130 mph.||A tornado touched down about 4 miles north of the city of Eufaula, near the end of Hidden Acres Road. At this initial point, several trees were knocked down and a few outbuildings were damaged. The tornado tracked east and crossed County Road 97, snapping or uprooting numerous trees. A few mobile homes suffered damaged, and a few homes suffered some roof damage. The tornado then entered the Weedon Field Airport complex. This is where the most extensive damage occurred. Numerous trees around the complex were snapped and uprooted. One home suffered damage, several metal structure buildings were completely destroyed, and several airplanes were damaged or destroyed, and the Eufaula ASOS was destroyed. The tornado continued eastward and weakened slightly after crossing US Highway 431. The tornado damaged a few buildings and uprooted trees along Roseland Drive. The tornado then crossed the Chattahoochee River and into Georgia.

A strong/cycling tornado crossed into Georgia along the Chattahoochee River, about 2-3 miles south of Lakepoint Resort State Park, causing considerable tree damage along State Hwy 39 in northern Quitman county. The tornado raced east with more trees snapped or uprooted along Hwy 27, just south of CR 10. Based on the surveyable damage (mainly trees), EF-0 to EF-1 damage was noted with max wind speeds estimated around 100 mph. The tornado appeared to briefly weaken near Hwy 27,|but quickly re-intensified as it crossed the Quitman/Stewart county line.

A National Weather Service survey found that an EF2 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 125 mph and a maximum path width of 860 yards moved into Stewart County from Quitman County along Bladen Creek west of Bethel Church Road. The tornado crossed mainly forested areas with numerous large trees snapped or uprooted. The tornado moved east crossing Foreman Branch and Hodchodkee Creek before reaching Wesley Chapel Road, downing numerous trees along its path. As the tornado approached the intersection of John Logan Road and Philadelphia Road, it reached EF2 intensity destroying multiple large metal-framed barns and moving several large pieces of farming equipment, including a cotton picker. In addition, a single-family home had its entire roof and most exterior walls pulled apart. Inside, a family of two with 3 dogs survived the tornado in their hallway with no major injuries reported. Just east of John Logan Road, several campers were flipped over and destroyed. There were no reports of injuries with the campers. The tornado continued moving east crossing Highway 27 uprooting or snapping numerous trees. To the east, along County Road 145, hundreds of large trees were uprooted or snapped. As the tornado continued eastward, it began to weaken but still damaged numerous trees between County Road 148 and Goodwins |Pond Road as it approached the Webster County line. [03/03/19: Tornado #14, County #1/2, EF2, Stewart, 2019:019].

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

43 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:15 UTC, 43 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:05 UTC and running to 22:26 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 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.

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 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

44 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.