Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2020
EF0 tornado, Florala, Alabama, April 23, 2020
This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Covington County on April 23, 2020, touching down at 8:53 AM CDT and reaching 25 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
- April 23, 2020
- Touchdown
- 8:53 AM CDT (13:53 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.0 miles (0.0 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Covington County
- Touchdown point
- 31.067, -86.252
- Lift-off point
- 31.067, -86.252
- Record number
- 2004230753-01
The damage survey
4 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.
- A few large hardwood trees uprooted.
- Several trees snapped and uprooted.
- Grain bin damaged. Likely a brief EF-0 tornado touchdown.
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 strong spring storm system moved across southern states. High values of wind shear and instability combined to generate numerous severe thunderstorms that produced tornadoes and wind damage.
A grain bin was damaged by a brief EF-0 tornado.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
15 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:38 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:12 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 09:05 UTC and running to 18:59 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:05 UTC | 18:59 UTC | Tornado Watch | MOB |
| 13:12 UTC | 14:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 13:38 UTC | 14:12 UTC | Tornado Warning | MOB |
| 15:27 UTC | 16:10 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 15:28 UTC | 18:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | MOB |
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 forecast that day
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 12:50 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 radar
The Eglin Afb radar (KEVX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:51 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.
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 Sw Parker Springs | Escambia, AL | TREES DOWN AT THE LEON BROOKS HINES PUBLIC LAKE. REPORT FROM SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 13:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ne Falco | Covington, AL | TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ON AL-137 AT MILE MARKER 7 (OPEN POND ROAD). |
| 13:42 UTC | TORNADO | 3 Ene Falco | Covington, AL | A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN OCCURRED ALONG AN APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF MILE TRACK. THERE WERE SEVERAL TREES SNAPPED AND UPROOTED WITH A WEAK CONVERGENCE DAMAGE PATTERN NOTED. THIS SHORT TRACK WAS JUST WEST OF BOGGAN LEVEL RO |
| 13:53 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Ese Watkins Bridge | Covington, AL | A GRAIN BIN WAS DAMAGED BY A BRIEF EF-0 TORNADO. |
| 13:57 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Nne Stedman | Covington, AL | COVINGTON COUNTY EMA REPORTS NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS LOCATIONS NEAR AND WEST OF U.S. HIGHWAY 331 (ABOUT 1 MILE SOUTH OF THE REST AREA). BARN ALSO DESTROYED. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. |
| 14:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 W Enterprise | Coffee, AL | REPORT OF BROKEN POWER POLE JUST WEST OF ENTERPRISE VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 14:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Hacoda | Geneva, AL | POWER LINE DOWN. FROM SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 14:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 Ssw Bald Hill | Geneva, AL | TREE DOWN ACROSS HIGHWAY 123. FROM SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 14:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Black | Geneva, AL | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM BLACK. SHED BLOWN OVER AND SMALL CHICKEN COOP BLOWN OFF. POSSIBLE TORNADO. REPORTED VIA BROADCAST MEDIA SOCIAL MEDIA SITE. |
| 16:08 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Black | Geneva, AL | SHED BLOWN OVER AND SMALL CHICKEN COOP BLOWN OFF. POSSIBLE TORNADO. REPORTED VIA BROADCAST MEDIA SOCIAL MEDIA SITE. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 23, 2020
29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 23 | 1:08 AM CDT | EF2 | Avoyelles Parish, LA | 3.6 | 100 | $1.0 million | ||
| April 23 | 1:20 AM CDT | EF1 | Avoyelles Parish, LA | 1.1 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| April 23 | 1:51 AM CDT | EF1 | Acadia Parish, LA | 9.5 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| April 23 | 1:57 AM CDT | EF0 | Rankin, MS | 11.4 | 1,230 | $30,000 | ||
| April 23 | 3:04 AM CDT | EF2 | Pike, MS | 20.0 | 700 | |||
| April 23 | 3:20 AM CDT | EF2 | Pike, MS | 6.8 | 700 | $100,000 | ||
| April 23 | 3:57 AM CDT | EF0 | Marion, MS | 6.5 | 200 | $20,000 | ||
| April 23 | 4:14 AM CDT | EF2 | Jones, MS | 16.9 | 2,640 | $300,000 | ||
| April 23 | 4:33 AM CDT | EF1 | Wayne, MS | 1.8 | 350 | |||
| April 23 | 6:17 AM CDT | EF1 | George, MS | 2.3 | 200 | |||
| April 23 | 6:23 AM CDT | EF1 | George, MS | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 6:24 AM CDT | EF1 | George, MS | 1.4 | 250 | 1 | ||
| April 23 | 6:37 AM CDT | EF1 | Mobile, AL | 0.6 | 75 | |||
| April 23 | 8:42 AM CDT | EF0 | Covington, AL | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 12:05 PM EDT | EF1 | Mitchell, GA | 2.4 | 176 | $100,000 | ||
| April 23 | 12:34 PM EDT | EF1 | Colquitt, GA | 37.2 | 650 | $200,000 | ||
| April 23 | 1:28 PM EDT | EF0 | Lanier, GA | 2.2 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 2:05 PM EDT | EF0 | Ware, GA | 9.0 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 2:59 PM EDT | EF0 | Glynn, GA | 0.5 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 3:37 PM EDT | EF0 | Camden, GA | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 2:51 PM CDT | EF1 | Okaloosa, FL | 2.7 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 3:13 PM CDT | EF1 | Walton, FL | 9.1 | 100 | $200,000 | ||
| April 23 | 3:48 PM CDT | EF2 | Washington, FL | 17.2 | 400 | $500,000 | ||
| April 23 | 4:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Bay, FL | 13.4 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| April 23 | 4:09 PM CDT | EF0 | Bay, FL | 0.9 | 50 | |||
| April 23 | 6:22 PM EDT | EF1 | Leon, FL | 10.6 | 600 | $10,000 | ||
| April 23 | 6:54 PM EDT | EF1 | Wakulla, FL | 3.9 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| April 23 | 7:56 PM EDT | EF1 | Taylor, FL | 0.5 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| April 23 | 9:11 PM EDT | EF0 | Gilchrist, FL | 0.6 | 50 |
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.