EF3 Ohatchee–Piedmont tornado, Alabama, March 25, 2021

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 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 25, 2021

Touchdown

2:31 PM CDT (19:31 UTC)

Lifted

3:27 PM CDT (20:27 UTC)

On the ground

56 minutes

Path length

38.2 miles (61.4 km)

Path width

1,700 yards (1554 m)

Deaths

6

Injuries

10

Counties

Calhoun and Cherokee counties

Touchdown point

33.703, -86.105

Lift-off point

33.987, -85.539

Record number

2103251331-01

252 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS FFC, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 140 mph.

• 22 sheltered after receiving warning
• Vehicle picked up and moved approximately 60 feet
• One fatality in unanchored tiny home
• Lowered due to lack of anchoring

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

A potent storm system affected Central Alabama on Thursday, March 25th. A highly-sheared environment combined with increasing instability produced numerous tornadic thunderstorms. Severe parameters were supportive of significant and long-track supercells, prompting the issuance of a rare High Risk Convective Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center for portions of Central Alabama.||A total of 10 tornado tracks were surveyed in Central Alabama. This included 4 EF3 tornadoes, 3 EF2 tornadoes, and 3 EF1 tornadoes. Damage was significant along the paths of the most intense tornadoes and, unfortunately, injuries and fatalities occurred. |Some storms were cyclic, meaning multiple tornadoes were produced by the same storm. The most impressive tornado of the event was the long-track tornado that traveled nearly 80 miles from Hale County to Shelby County. This ranked as the seventh longest single tornado track in the state of Alabama.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Calhoun County and determined that it was consistent with an EF3 tornado, with maximum winds near 140 mph.||The tornado first touched down on Boiling Springs Road snapping and uprooting trees just north of Mitchellville Road. The tornado widened as it traveled northeast damaging structures along Boiling Springs Road, downing trees and power lines. A double wide mobile home was demolished on Simpson Bend Road. The tornado then produced extensive damage in the Macon community, destroying numerous mobile homes with moderate to major damage to several site built homes. In this area, tree damage was also extensive with numerous hardwoods snapped near the base along Ragan Chapel Road. As the tornado approached Highway 77, it reached its maximum intensity and was likely multi-vortex in nature based on the damage pattern. Here, a large swath of trees were snapped. A large factory, Precision Materials, sustained major damage. The entire structure and supporting frame of this large well built metal building was collapsed and bent inward. The owner said they received the tornado warning and moved all employees into a safe shelter in the interior of the building before the tornado hit. None of the occupants were injured. A large tractor trailer at this location was also partially lofted and then dragged 60 feet. The damage at this location was rated EF-3 . The tornado crossed County Road 77, with damage to several homes along Ragans Chapel Road. At least two homes sustained significant damage with most of their roof removed and windows blown out. A large farm building was also demolished. Ragans Chapel UMC, a structure dating back to the late 1800s, sustained major damage with most walls collapsed. The caretaker���s home behind the church sustained major damage.||Along Mudd Street, several mobile homes were completely destroyed. A fatality occurred in one unanchored tiny home when the structure completely collapsed. Additional site built homes in the area from Mudd Street to Lost Creek Road sustained significant damage. The tornado continued northeast over mainly forested areas snapping and uprooting large swaths of trees. A wide expanse of damage was noted from Dark Hollow Road and Boiling Springs Road. Here many power lines were downed and poles snapped. Several site built homes sustained roof and structural damage, farm buildings and sheds were destroyed, and a mobile home was completely destroyed.||Significant damage was noted along Ingram Wells Road and Grayton Road South. Along Ingram Wells Road several homes were damaged and outbuildings destroyed. Along Grayton Road several mobile homes were destroyed with the undercarriages and contents blown well downstream. A doublewide mobile home also sustained significant damage. Three fatalities occurred here along with multiple significant injuries. A wide swath of tree damage continued along Grayton Road South and Mountain View Road.||The tornado then moved into the Wellington community as it crossed US Highway 431. Here several site built homes sustained moderate damage with partial loss of roof structures. Many power poles were also snapped along with damage to a convenience store. Significant damage was noted along Joe Martin Drive and Wellington Road. One site built home sustained collapse of most walls and cars were tossed. Six occupants sheltered safely in an interior closet. Additional homes sustained roof damage with one moved well off its foundation. Several mobile homes were completely destroyed. One occupant was killed near Mangum Road, but 13 others survived after sheltering in a family storm pit.||A wide swath of damage continued from East Wellington into Pleasant Valley with mobile homes destroyed along Old Sulphur Springs Road and site built homes with roof and structural damage. Trees were snapped and uprooted along County Road 204 along with damage to structures. Chicken houses were destroyed along Pleasant Valley Road, along with substantial damage to a church and business along Angel Drive. The tornado continued northeastward where additional damage was observed along Nisbet Lake Road, Dogwood Lane, and Charlie Penny Road. This was mostly timber damage where the tornado uprooted and snapped hundreds of trees. Varying degrees of minor structure damage was observed here as well. Farther northeast, the tornado moved toward New Liberty and Roy Webb Rd where damage was sustained at Learning Tree. The tornado continued northeast crossing Old Piedmont Gadsden Highway and US Hwy 278. Several swaths of timber damage was observed throughout these areas as well as minor damage to a few homes. The tornado crossed into southern Cherokee County just west of Highway 9.

The deaths

6 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

8 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:23 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:30 UTC and running to 00:47 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:29 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.

Anniston (ANB), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:30 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 2021 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

19 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.