EF0 tornado, Marvel to Gurnee Jct, Alabama, March 22, 2022

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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. 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

EF0

Date

March 22, 2022

Touchdown

9:08 PM CDT (02:08 UTC)

Lifted

9:13 PM CDT (02:13 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Bibb and Shelby counties

Touchdown point

33.186, -87.041

Lift-off point

33.211, -87.004

Record number

2203222008-01

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 75 mph.

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

Several supercell thunderstorms developed ahead of a QLCS in advance of a cold front. One supercell produced three weak tornadoes, with another QLCS producing a weak tornado. Training thunderstorms resulted in many instances of flash flooding and river flooding, with three flash flood fatalities occurring in Tuscaloosa County.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northeast Bibb County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 75 mph. The tornado touched down along CR 21 where a few trees were uprooted. The tornado then tracked northeastward, uprooting additional trees and crossing into Shelby County. No structural damage was observed as the track went across forested areas and stayed clear of residential areas.

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in western Shelby County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 75 mph. This tornado began in Bibb County and entered western Shelby County about three-quarters of a mile southwest of Red Rock Road. The short track went across forested areas and stayed clear of isolated residential areas, with damage confined to uprooted softwood trees.

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 02:04 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:14 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:12 UTC and running to 03:14 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:03 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.

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:05 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

40 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.