Tornadoes · United States · Alabama

2020 tornadoes in Alabama

70 tornadoes touched down in Alabama in 2020, 98 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 5 people and injured 15.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 mph
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.

Every tornado in Alabama in 2020

January 11 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries
January 11	11:11 AM CST	EF2	Pickens	6.3	1,056	3	7
January 11	1:03 PM CST	EF0	Cullman	0.2	80
January 11	1:13 PM CST	EF1	Marshall	1.8	60
January 11	1:19 PM CST	EF2	Marshall	0.2	150
January 11	4:33 PM CST	EF1	Barbour	5.8	275

February 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 5	5:18 PM CST	EF1	Colbert	1.3	60

February 6 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 6	1:57 AM CST	EF2	Shelby	9.9	700
February 6	2:13 AM CST	EF1	Marengo	1.3	400	1	1

February 12 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 12	5:13 PM CST	EF1	Lauderdale	3.8	400

February 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 13	4:12 AM CST	EF1	Tallapoosa	2.1	300

March 3 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 3	6:04 AM CST	EF0	Hale	4.3	220
March 3	6:28 AM CST	EF1	Bibb	6.2	525

March 31 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 31	10:23 AM CDT	EF0	Montgomery	3.3	190
March 31	10:33 AM CDT	EF0	Pike	0.1	80
March 31	10:34 AM CDT	EF0	Pike	1.6	80
March 31	10:51 AM CDT	EF0	Pike	0.8	180
March 31	11:34 AM CDT	EF2	Barbour to GA	30.0	350	1	$50,000

April 12 27 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 12	4:01 PM CDT	EF0	Pickens	1.5	200
April 12	4:18 PM CDT	EF0	Pickens	5.5	300
April 12	4:34 PM CDT	EF0	Fayette	1.8	350
April 12	4:41 PM CDT	EF1	Fayette	6.1	600
April 12	5:04 PM CDT	EF1	Walker	9.0	950
April 12	5:14 PM CDT	EF2	Jefferson	6.9	940
April 12	5:44 PM CDT	EF0	Blount	0.5	125
April 12	5:47 PM CDT	EF1	Blount	3.8	225
April 12	5:50 PM CDT	EF2	Blount	5.6	500
April 12	6:04 PM CDT	EF1	Blount	0.8	115
April 12	6:08 PM CDT	EF1	Etowah	5.5	525
April 12	6:10 PM CDT	EF2	Blount	21.7	440	3
April 12	6:14 PM CDT	EF2	Etowah	12.2	875
April 12	8:12 PM CDT	EF1	Walker	2.9	1,000	3
April 12	8:33 PM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa	9.9	230
April 12	8:51 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman	3.0	200
April 12	9:00 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman	5.4	300
April 12	9:03 PM CDT	EF1	Choctaw	0.4	100
April 12	9:11 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman	0.3	70
April 12	9:12 PM CDT	EF2	Cullman	2.5	350
April 12	9:16 PM CDT	EF1	Clarke	0.8	100
April 12	9:27 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	5.0	200
April 12	9:41 PM CDT	EF1	Marengo	8.1	1,000
April 12	9:50 PM CDT	EF1	Dade to GA	7.5	350		$700,000
April 12	10:14 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	2.4	350
April 12	10:22 PM CDT	EF0	DeKalb	3.6	110
April 12	10:27 PM CDT	EF0	Dallas	3.8	400

April 19 12 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Damage
April 19	10:49 PM CDT	EF2	Covington	1.2	300
April 19	10:55 PM CDT	EF1	Mobile	8.9	100
April 19	11:03 PM CDT	EF0	Coffee	4.4	50		$50,000
April 19	11:05 PM CDT	EF1	Mobile	1.3	75
April 19	11:06 PM CDT	EF1	Mobile	3.2	75
April 19	11:20 PM CDT	EF1	Dale	24.4	150		$200,000
April 19	11:32 PM CDT	EF0	Geneva	1.8	100
April 19	11:40 PM CDT	EF2	Henry	5.2	300	1
April 19	11:42 PM CDT	EF1	Houston	0.7	50		$50,000
April 19	11:45 PM CDT	EF1	Henry	1.5	500		$250,000
April 19	11:46 PM CDT	EF1	Baldwin	0.5	300
April 19	11:46 PM CDT	EF1	Henry	6.5	100		$5,000

April 23 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
April 23	6:37 AM CDT	EF1	Mobile	0.6	75
April 23	8:42 AM CDT	EF0	Covington	0.4	50
April 23	8:53 AM CDT	EF0	Covington	0.0	25

June 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	1:39 PM CDT	EF0	Mobile	0.3	50
June 24	1:49 PM CDT	EF1	Mobile	2.7	300

July 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 26	6:53 PM CDT	Unrated	Limestone	0.2	25

August 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 23	12:13 PM CDT	Unrated	Madison	0.1	50

August 28 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
August 28	4:02 PM CDT	EF1	Winston	8.8	325
August 28	4:36 PM CDT	EF1	Winston	2.6	100
August 28	5:27 PM CDT	EF1	Cullman	5.6	115
August 28	5:58 PM CDT	EF0	Morgan	0.2	40

October 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 10	5:01 AM CDT	EF0	Mobile	0.1	25
October 10	4:14 PM CDT	EF0	Chambers	0.7	125

December 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 14	1:02 AM CST	EF0	Jefferson	4.8	350

Crossed into Alabama

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Alabama. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 24	5:27 PM CDT	EF1	Tishomingo, MS to AL	16.9	400			$1.5 million

Nearby

Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama The live radar over Alabama

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.