EF2 tornado, Ansley to Pine Level, 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 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

April 5, 2022

Touchdown

11:03 AM CDT (16:03 UTC)

Lifted

11:18 AM CDT (16:18 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

12.7 miles (20.4 km)

Path width

1,100 yards (1006 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Pike and Montgomery counties

Touchdown point

31.896, -86.127

Lift-off point

32.047, -86.005

Record number

2204051003-01

77 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.

An upper-level disturbance moved across the Deep South in the early morning hours of April 5, 2022. This fostered the development of a surface low which moved across Central Mississippi and into North Alabama. Thunderstorms in the morning initially posed a threat of large hail and damaging winds. Later in the morning and into the afternoon, storms became more surface-based and a tornado threat resulted, mainly impacting the southern and southeastern portions of Central Alabama. On April 6th, a strong cold front moved through Alabama, producing another round of severe thunderstorms, but no tornadoes.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northwest Pike County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. The tornado touched down just west of the intersection of County Road 1107 and 1101. The tornado tracked northeast nearly paralleling County Road 1107 where damage consisted of numerous snapped and uprooted trees, some of which fell on and caused significant damage to a residence. The tornado also produced minor roof damage to additional nearby homes and shifted a manufactured home off of its block piers. It crossed into southeast Montgomery County just west of Little Patsaliga Creek.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Montgomery County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 120 mph. This tornado originated in northeast Pike County and crossed into Montgomery county just west of Little Patsaliga Creek. The tornado reached its peak intensity just after crossing into Montgomery County where is caused the collapse of metal electric transmission tower. The tornado tracked northeast and crossed County Road 94 where numerous trees were uprooted and snapped. The tornado then crossed Highway 231 where several homes suffered loss of roofing. It weakened as it approached Meriwether Trail and lifted just after crossing Meriwether Trail.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:50 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 11:52 UTC and running to 17:48 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), 13 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), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:00 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.