EF2 tornado, Goldville to Wehadkee, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

March 25, 2021

Touchdown

9:55 PM CDT (02:55 UTC)

Lifted

10:31 PM CDT (03:31 UTC)

On the ground

36 minutes

Path length

31.3 miles (50.3 km)

Path width

1,000 yards (914 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Clay, Tallapoosa and Randolph counties

Touchdown point

33.094, -85.771

Lift-off point

33.231, -85.257

Record number

2103252055-01

162 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 EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

• numerous trees uprooted and snapped. based on aerial imagery
• Several trees uprooted and snapped. based on aerial imagery
• several trees uprooted and snapped. based on aerial imagery
• Agricultural metal building systems destroyed. Owners asked that no photographs be taken of property and documentation remain vague.

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 rural northern Tallapoosa County and determined it was consistent with an EF1 tornado with maximum winds near 95 mph. The tornado first touched down in a remote area just east of Goldville, starting out very narrow but producing significant areas of uprooted trees and a distinct debris signature as it passed over harvested and unharvested forests. The tornado crossed Simpson Road before passing into Clay County.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Clay County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 125 mph.||This tornado originated in Tallapoosa County and crossed into Clay County southwest of Sikesville. As the tornado crossed Hodge Creek Road, it produced extensive timber damage, specifically the snapping and uprooting of large swaths of trees. Some minor structural damage was also noted in this area. The tornado traveled northeast producing extensive tree damage in the Sikesville community where numerous homes here received minor to moderate roof damage. One home sustained major damage with all but one wall collapsed. The tornado nearly paralleled County Line Road as it moved into southwest Randolph County.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southwest Randolph County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 125 mph.||This tornado originated in Clay County and crossed into Randolph County just south of Bald Rock Road. All along CR 836, swaths of hardwood trees were either uprooted or snapped. The tornado widened as it approached CR 77. Here the tornado carved a wide path over mainly forested areas with some damage to barns and agricultural buildings. A chicken house on CR 845 was completely destroyed.||Substantial damage was noted in the Corinth community in southwest Randolph county. Along CR 43, a row of homes had minor to moderate damage. Many homes in this area sustained complete loss of roof structure and blown out windows. The Corinth Fire Department was also damaged in this area.||The tornado continued to travel northeast, snapping trees and powerlines along CR 33 and CR 26. Homes in this area also received damage, mostly to roof structures. Homes were damaged along CR 65 just west of US Highway 431. Once the tornado crossed Highway 431, it produced extensive damage to homes and structures along CR 61 and CR 700. Several homes had their roofs removed and trees were snapped near the base. Farther east near CR 59, a 100 year old log cabin was mostly destroyed with only a couple of walls left standing. Tree damage in this area was also extensive.||Additional trees and power lines continued to be snapped along CR 16 and CR 87. A large farm building was destroyed near CR 701 and several chicken houses were also destroyed in this area. The tornado weakened notably east of CR 87 before lifting near CR 296 just west of the Georgia state line.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:51 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:02 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:47 UTC and running to 03:41 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

La_grange (LGC), 45 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Maxwell AFB radar (KMXX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:56 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.