EF1 tornado, Vineland to Lamison, 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 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

April 12, 2020

Touchdown

9:41 PM CDT (02:41 UTC)

Lifted

9:49 PM CDT (02:49 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

8.1 miles (13.0 km)

Path width

1,000 yards (914 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Marengo and Wilcox counties

Touchdown point

32.044, -87.658

Lift-off point

32.116, -87.551

Record number

2004122041-01

26 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 110 mph.

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.

A strong spring storm system moved across the eastern states. A very warm and moist air mass moved in ahead of the approaching cold front. The very unstable air mass combined with plenty of wind shear lead to a severe weather outbreak across the southeast states.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Marengo County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 100 mph.||A tornado formed along State Route 25 about two miles southwest of the Moores Valley community in extreme southeast Marengo County. The tornado tracked northeast, causing significant tree damage at Friendship Baptist Church, along County Road 56, County Road 55, and Moores Valley Road. The damage path quickly grew to a width of 1000 yards as it crossed into Wilcox County.

The tornado entered Wilcox County from Marengo County |just southwest of County Road 32 and lifted near County Road 30.|The most significant damage occurred along County Road 32 where numerous|pine trees were snapped. A mobile home was heavily damaged by a large |pine tree. Additional trees were either uprooted or snapped along the|path with the tornado weakening as it approached County Road 30 just|east of Lamison. Many thanks to NWS Birmingham with their assistance with|this survey. ||The same storm has also resulted in numerous trees being downed across |Wilcox County from straight line winds.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:33 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:40 UTC and running to 03:42 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 00:58 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.

Marion (A08), 52 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:37 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.