Unrated tornado, Petrey, Alabama, April 5, 2022

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 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. Unratedthis tornado

   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

Unrated

Date

April 5, 2022

Touchdown

11:20 AM CDT (16:20 UTC)

Lifted

11:21 AM CDT (16:21 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.4 miles (0.7 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Crenshaw County

Touchdown point

31.871, -86.211

Lift-off point

31.875, -86.205

Record number

2204051020-01

58 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 125 mph.

• Widespread swath of snapped trees
• Widespread softwood trees snapped. Major tree devastation.
• Widespread hardwoods uprooted with numerous snaps. Major tree devastation.
• Complete uplift and removal of roofing material. Side panels torn off buildings.

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

A very active Spring severe weather season continued in April. A very strong storm system and associated cold front swept across the area during the morning of April 5th. A very unstable atmosphere combined with strong wind shear led to a severe weather outbreak across portions of the deep south. Eight tornado tracks were found along with other areas of wind damage and large hail.

A brief yet strong EF2 tornado occurred on 4/5/22 in Crenshaw|County by Petrey, AL at 10:56 AM CDT. The tornado began just|before Lapine Highway where it uprooted and snapped several|softwood trees. The tornado crossed the Highway, gradually|widening and causing some damage to the roof of a church while|continuing to snap and uproot softwood trees. The tornado quickly|impacted a chicken farm off of Shady Grove Road where one chicken|house was completely destroyed supporting the initial EF2 damage|location. As the tornado continued northeast, the radius of EF2|winds widened considerably. Winds peaked around 125 mph in the|adjacent forest resulting in complete devastation of approximately|20 to 30 acres of trees where numerous snapped softwoods and|snapped or uprooted hardwoods were observed. As the tornado|approached Smith Chapel Road, it began to quickly shrink in size|and weaken uprooting or snapping a handful of trees with no|notable damage after it crossed the road.

After extensive analysis of data provided by PERiLs, sentinel |sattelite imagery, and third-party pressure data in conjunction |with multiple surrounding radars it has been determined that |another tornado occurred 1 mile NNW of Petrey, AL on 4/5/2022. |This tornado was associated with the line segment that was moving |through the area roughly 25 minutes after the initial tornado |producing supercell. During the initial storm survey there were |several discrepancies noted in the overall damage path that did |not quite line up with the initial tornado path including |snapped/uprooted trees by a pond and the damage done to the |southern portion of the chicken houses. Given the overlapping |paths and likely similar start points, it is impossible to |determine what the true intensity, path width, path length, and |end point of this tornado was. The beginning time of the tornado |is estimated by radar and third party pressure data. Special |thanks to all parties involved for providing invaluable data that |supported this determination.

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 11:52 UTC and running to 18:05 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 12:53 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.

Troy Municipal (TOI), 19 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), 84 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:20 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 2022 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

66 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 67 of them

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.