EF1 tornado, Active to Lawley, Alabama, March 3, 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

March 3, 2020

Touchdown

6:28 AM CST (12:28 UTC)

Lifted

6:38 AM CST (12:38 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

6.2 miles (10.0 km)

Path width

525 yards (480 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Bibb County

Touchdown point

32.865, -87.050

Lift-off point

32.865, -86.943

Record number

2003030628-01

21 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 105 mph.

• numerous trees snapped and uprooted nearby, vehicle lofted.
• Dozens of trees snapped and uprooted. Minor damage to home
• End Point, last observed damage
• Start Point, damage observed weatward from structure damage point.

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

A very moist and convergent zonal flow pattern set the stage for several rounds of severe weather across the southern portions of central Alabama on March 3rd/4th. A weak cold front pushed south of I-20 on March 3rd and triggered a cluster of strong to severe storms, including a few weak tornadoes. Another round of severe storms impacted areas south of I-85, producing high winds.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in far southeast Bibb County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph.||The tornado touched down in a heavily wooded area just west of Liberty Road in southeast Bibb County. The tornado intensified to EF1 strength where it knocked a manufactured home off the foundation, and displaced a nearby vehicle. Nearby, extensive tree damage was observed with at least several dozen trees snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued on an eastward path where it continued to cause extensive tree damage, as well as damage to at least three homes along Maude Tower Road and County Rd 29. The tornado then tracked over a heavily wooded area near Trail Branch before crossing Highway 82. It then caused numerous trees to be snapped or uprooted near the Lawley Fire Department and Community Center. The tornado dissipated just east of County Road 36 near Oakmulgee Creek.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:12 UTC and running to 13:51 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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.

Alabaster (EET), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 40 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:24 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

8 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.