Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2021
EF1 tornado, Brantley to Brantley Muni Arpt, Alabama, March 18, 2021
From Brantley to Brantley Muni Arpt, this EF1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Crenshaw County on March 18, 2021, touching down at 4:08 AM CDT and reaching 150 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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
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
- EF1
- Date
- March 18, 2021
- Touchdown
- 4:08 AM CDT (09:08 UTC)
- Lifted
- 4:10 AM CDT (09:10 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 150 yards (137 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Crenshaw County
- Touchdown point
- 31.592, -86.243
- Lift-off point
- 31.599, -86.239
- Record number
- 2103180308-01
The damage survey
14 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 94 mph.
- Convergent path noted at area of snapped trees. Path width around 150 yards wide.
- Uprooted oak trees, snapped pines at the trunk, collapse of roof of outbuilding.
- Pine trees snapped with convergent pattern. Path width 50 yards.
- Tree damage visible on high resolution satellite imagery at this location.
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 cold front moved through the southeast states, triggering a severe weather outbreak that produced several tornadoes along with numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds.
The tornado first touched down at the corner of Glenwood Road and Melvin Wallace Road where it snapped an area of trees. The tornado then continued northeast across Nelvin Wallace Road where to reached peak intensity snapping several pines, uprooting several oak trees and removing the roof of an out building. Eventually the tornado lifted just south of N Brunson Chapel Road but nor before snapping a few more pine trees.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
8 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:00 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23:50 UTC | 07:59 UTC | Tornado Watch | MOB |
| 02:55 UTC | 03:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MOB |
| 09:00 UTC | 09:30 UTC | Tornado 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 surface observations
Andalusia (79J), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:27 UTC | 74 | 69 | 130° 11 kt | 22 | 1007.1 | TSRA |
| 07:38 UTC | 74 | 69 | 160° 10 kt | 25 | 1007.8 | RA |
| 08:12 UTC | 74 | 69 | 200° 10 kt | 23 | 1007.8 | -TSRA |
| 08:53 UTC | 73.4 | 69.8 | 210° 9 kt | 15 | 1007.1 | +TSRA |
| 09:13 UTC | 72 | 68 | 220° 10 kt | 21 | 1007.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 09:26 UTC | 72 | 68 | 210° 5 kt | 1007.5 | RA BR | |
| 09:56 UTC | 72 | 67 | 240° 9 kt | 15 | 1007.8 | |
| 10:14 UTC | 72 | 66 | 240° 7 kt | 16 | 1007.5 | |
| 10:44 UTC | 71 | 65 | 250° 12 kt | 17 | 1008.1 | |
| 10:56 UTC | 70 | 64 | 260° 10 kt | 18 | 1008.5 | |
| 11:05 UTC | 70 | 64 | 250° 7 kt | 1008.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:07 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09:08 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Ne Brantley | Crenshaw, AL | BARN DESTROYED. |
| 09:08 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Ne Brantley | Crenshaw, AL | EF-1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN FROM .52 MILES 1 MILE NORTHEAST OF BRANTLEY ALABAMA. PATH WAS 150 YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST AND DAMAGE OCCURRED ALONG NELVIN WALLACE RD. |
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 March 18, 2021
15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 18 | 5:27 AM CDT | EF1 | Houston, AL | 5.2 | 150 | 1 | $200,000 | |
| March 18 | 5:49 AM CDT | EF0 | Houston, AL | 2.1 | 50 | $4,000 | ||
| March 18 | 6:02 AM CDT | EF0 | Washington, FL | 1.6 | 25 | |||
| March 18 | 6:02 AM CDT | EF0 | Bay, FL | 3.9 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| March 18 | 6:25 AM CDT | EF1 | Bay, FL | 0.4 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| March 18 | 7:44 AM EDT | EF0 | Early, GA | 3.1 | 50 | |||
| March 18 | 8:40 AM EDT | EF0 | Liberty, FL | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| March 18 | 8:49 AM EDT | EF1 | Terrell, GA | 4.0 | 200 | $20,000 | ||
| March 18 | 9:06 AM EDT | EF1 | Lee, GA | 10.4 | 50 | $250,000 | ||
| March 18 | 1:38 PM EDT | EF0 | Pierce, GA | 0.1 | 5 | |||
| March 18 | 2:46 PM EDT | EF0 | Gilchrist, FL | 12.5 | 100 | |||
| March 18 | 5:01 PM EDT | EF1 | Guilford, NC | 2.6 | 500 | $500,000 | ||
| March 18 | 5:38 PM EDT | EF1 | Alamance, NC | 2.5 | 200 | $1.0 million | ||
| March 18 | 6:04 PM EDT | EF1 | Orange, NC | 4.3 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| March 18 | 9:27 PM EDT | EF0 | Isle of Wight, VA | 4.2 | 150 | $100,000 |
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.