EF2 tornado, Gorgas to Partridge Xrds, Alabama, April 12, 2020

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

April 12, 2020

Touchdown

5:14 PM CDT (22:14 UTC)

Lifted

5:25 PM CDT (22:25 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

6.9 miles (11.1 km)

Path width

940 yards (860 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Jefferson and Walker counties

Touchdown point

33.699, -87.053

Lift-off point

33.748, -86.948

Record number

2004121614-01

121 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 122 mph.

• . numerous on house destroyed
• 3 large oak trees 1on a house
• numerous pines and hardwoods snapped and uprooted chaotically. borderline ef2
• several uprooted in a divergent pattern

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

An upper-level low over the southwest United States evolved into a negatively-tilted shortwave trough as it moved over the southeastern United States. A warm front steadily moved northward during the morning and afternoon hours on Sunday, April 12. This allowed an unstable air mass to move northward and overspread much of the region. At the same time, very strong wind shear developed over Alabama as the upper trough neared the state.||An initial wave of severe storms affected areas near and north of Interstate 20, involving tornadoes, damaging straight-line winds, and some hail. Through the evening, a second wave of thunderstorms affected the remaining areas of Central Alabama with tornadoes and damaging straight-line winds. Flooding also resulted from training rainfall near and north of Interstate 20. Some roads became impassible or were washed out. This weather event was large in scope and produced severe weather from Oklahoma and Texas, through the southeastern United States, then up the east coast to New York.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Walker County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph.||The tornado developed just south of the Gorgas Power Plant along the Mulberry Fork near Copeland Bend. The most focused area of damage occurred along Rainwood Lodge Road where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, some of which fell on homes. In addition, minor roof damage was observed at several residences along the road. The tornado continued northeastward, uprooting several more trees and breaking branches before crossing Interstate 22. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted near a convenience store on Sharon Blvd, with one tree falling on a nearby manufactured home just before the tornado dissipated.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in eastern Walker County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 100 mph.||The tornado began near Bryan Road at the Walker and Jefferson County line. The tornado tracked northeastward into Jefferson County where numerous trees were snapped off and uprooted along the path.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Jefferson County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 125 mph. This tornado is a continuation from Walker County. Near Highway 78, a metal building was destroyed. One home lost large sections of its roof along the Bankhead Highway. Several other homes suffered varying degrees of damage and many structures had trees land on them. At least a dozen homes were damaged. The tornado ended near Gobblers Knob Road where large branches were broken from a few trees.

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

34 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:40 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:29 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 02:30 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 20:07 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.

Birmingham Municipal (BHM), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:17 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 2020 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

72 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 73 of them

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.