EF1 tornado, Gulf Crest to Bucks, Alabama, June 24, 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

June 24, 2020

Touchdown

1:49 PM CDT (18:49 UTC)

Lifted

1:54 PM CDT (18:54 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mobile County

Touchdown point

30.982, -88.167

Lift-off point

31.010, -88.136

Record number

2006241249-01

16 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Hi-res satellite imagery shows near complete deforestation with numerous snaps and uproots.
• End point of EF2 damage extent based on hi-res satellite imagery
• A few trees uprooted and/or snapped based on hi-res satellite imagery.
• Numerous trees scattered throughout the forest either snapped or uprooted in a large area associated with the tornado visible on high resolution satellite imagery.

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

A Mesoscale Convective Vortex moved across the area during the morning and early afternoon. Enhanced vertical wind shear with this system combined with a moist and unstable atmosphere led to the development of thunderstorms with embedded mesocyclones, some of which produced tornadoes.

The tornado first touched down southwest of Kelly |Trail and moved northeast across the road. In this area, significant|damage was noted to both softwood and hardwood trees with the trunks|of many trees snapped. A couple of homes suffered significant damage|due to the fallen trees. Another home on the western edge of the tornado |path had roof damage to the north side of the structure. The tornado|continued northeast and crossed Celeste Road, weakened and lifted just |east of John Kelly Road. The tree damage was much more sporadic and|not as significant in the Celeste Road area as it was further to the |southwest.

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

30 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:19 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:36 UTC and running to 21:50 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:32 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.

Mobile/Bates Field (MOB), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 36 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:48 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

14 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.