Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2021
EF0 tornado, Bailey Crossroads to Wicksburg, Alabama, August 31, 2021
From Bailey Crossroads to Wicksburg, this EF0 tornado ran 2.3 miles across Geneva and Houston counties on August 31, 2021, touching down at 6:34 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.
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
- August 31, 2021
- Touchdown
- 6:34 PM CDT (23:34 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:40 PM CDT (23:40 UTC)
- On the ground
- 6 minutes
- Path length
- 2.3 miles (3.7 km)
- Path width
- 25 yards (23 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Counties
- Geneva and Houston counties
- Touchdown point
- 31.188, -85.614
- Lift-off point
- 31.211, -85.585
- Record number
- 2108311734-01
The damage survey
20 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.
- Trees topped at the edge of a peanut field.
- Photo from media. Roof peeled off barn.
- Scattered shingle damage throughout neighborhood.
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
The center of the remnants of Hurricane Ida moved well west and north of the region. However, a localized favorable environment of instability and shear existed across a small area of southeast Alabama with a few brief, weak tornadoes reported.
A tornado touched down in fields west of Pates Road in Geneva County. The tornado tracked across mostly farmland into Houston County before damaging a barn and dissipating near Cumbie Road. Video on social media showed a very narrow tornado tracking across a peanut field near the Houston-Geneva County Border. Max winds were estimated near 80 mph.
This is a continuation of the EF0 tornado from Geneva county. The tornado tracked across mostly farmland into Houston County before damaging a barn and dissipating near Cumbie Road. Video on social media showed a very narrow tornado tracking across a peanut field near the Houston-Geneva County Border. Max winds were estimated near 80 mph.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
5 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:29 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:49 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:59 UTC | 16:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | TAE |
| 15:03 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Flood Advisory | TAE |
| 23:29 UTC | 23:49 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
| 01:30 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | TAE |
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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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 surface observations
Cairns Aaf/Ozark (OZR), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:56 UTC | 82.6 | 78.6 | 180° 9 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 22:21 UTC | 82.4 | 77 | 190° 10 kt | 1006.1 | -DZ | |
| 22:36 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 160° 7 kt | 1005.8 | -RA BR | |
| 22:41 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 330° 8 kt | 1006.1 | -RA BR | |
| 22:43 UTC | 78.8 | 78.8 | 310° 7 kt | 1006.1 | ||
| 22:56 UTC | 79 | 77 | 210° 11 kt | 14 | 1006.4 | |
| 23:11 UTC | 78.8 | 77 | 220° 7 kt | 1006.4 | ||
| 23:28 UTC | 78.8 | 77 | 210° 5 kt | 1006.4 | -DZ | |
| 23:38 UTC | 77 | 75.2 | 230° 7 kt | 1006.8 | +RA BR | |
| 23:43 UTC | 77 | 75.2 | 220° 5 kt | 1006.4 | -RA BR | |
| 23:48 UTC | 77 | 77 | 240° 5 kt | 1006.8 | -RA | |
| 23:50 UTC | 77 | 77 | 220° 5 kt | 1006.8 | ||
| 23:56 UTC | 76.8 | 76.5 | 220° 5 kt | 1006.8 | ||
| 00:10 UTC | 77 | 77 | 220° 5 kt | 1006.8 | -DZ | |
| 00:20 UTC | 77 | 77 | 230° 6 kt | 1007.1 | ||
| 00:42 UTC | 77 | 77 | 230° 6 kt | 1007.5 | -RA | |
| 00:51 UTC | 77 | 77 | 230° 6 kt | 1007.5 | ||
| 00:56 UTC | 77.5 | 77.2 | 220° 5 kt | 1007.1 | ||
| 01:15 UTC | 77 | 77 | 210° 4 kt | 1007.8 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:32 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:10 UTC | TORNADO | Taylor | Houston, AL | EMERGENCY MANAGER REPORTED DAMAGE TO 1 HOME, OUTBUILDINGS, AND TREES IN TAYLOR. |
| 23:13 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wnw Midland City | Dale, AL | A TORNADO WAS REPORTED IN MIDLAND CITY. DAMAGE TO THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL WAS ALSO REPORTED. |
| 23:33 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Wsw Bailey Crossroad | Geneva, AL | AN EF0 TORNADO TRACKED FROM EXTREME NORTHEAST GENEVA COUNTY INTO HOUSTON COUNTY. DAMAGE TO A BARN WAS OBSERVED IN ADDITION TO VIDEO OF THE TORNADO. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 31, 2021
4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.