EF1 tornado, Orchard to Tillmans Corner, Alabama, March 30, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 30, 2022

Touchdown

10:58 PM CDT (03:58 UTC)

Lifted

11:01 PM CDT (04:01 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mobile County

Touchdown point

30.557, -88.141

Lift-off point

30.591, -88.110

Record number

2203302158-01

17 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• A couple snaps, fence down, awning blown down, basketball hoop blown into brick pillar, several tree branches down
• Large uproot, snaps, fencing down, minor roof damage on home, garage damaged, tree branches down
• Numerous power poles snapped on both sides of road; fencing down; 18 wheeler trailer half rolled
• Minor roof damage of homes (some shingles gone); a few tree snaps; wooden fencing down; bent street sign and one knocked down

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

A very active severe weather season continued as an outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred across the area from the evening of the 30th into the early morning hours on the 31st. A strong spring storm system moved across the area. Ahead of the system plenty of Gulf moisture returned to the central Gulf coast. This led to a very unstable atmosphere over the region which combined to strong wind shear to produce 18 tornadoes which were rated from EF-0 to EF-2. In addition to the tornadoes, the storms produced damaging straight line winds and large hail. Numerous reports of damage came in from southeast Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida panhandle.

Another tornado began south of Howells Ferry Road, east of|Howells Lane. A couple trees were snapped in the residential area,|along with fencing down and the roof of an awning that was blown|down. A basketball hoop was knocked over into a brick pillar,|destroying the pillar. The storm progressed north-northeast and|uprooted one or two large trees and caused several snapped trees.|Minor roof damage was noted to a nearby home along with bent|garage doors as well. The tornado likely continued north-northeast|over more forest and dissipated possibly over an adjacent|landfill. Debris from this landfill was tossed into upstream|residential areas.

The tornado began near Rabbit Creek Drive and progressed|northeast over Rangeline Road, snapping several power poles along|the way. Strong straight-line winds, likely nearing 100 mph,|snapped several other power poles along a half mile stretch of|Rangeline Road south of the main circulation. It continued|northeast on Rabbit Creek Drive and caused minor damage to roofs|(missing shingles) and tree damage. Several trees were snapped and|a street sign was knocked down with another bent. The most|significant damage occurred near the Dog River, where multiple|trees were snapped near the base and some were uprooted. At least a|couple more power poles were snapped near the top, likely due to|a combination of trees falling on the lines and tornadic winds.

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

34 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:24 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:39 UTC and running to 04:36 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 00:57 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.

NWS Mobile, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 30, 10:32 PM CDT, 26 minutes earlier.

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Mobile AL
1032 PM CDT Wed Mar 30 2022

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK ONGOING TONIGHT...

.NEAR TERM /Now Through Friday/...A severe weather outbreak
will continue across the central Gulf coast through tonight as a
line of severe storms with embedded tornadoes continues to move
eastward. Conditions remain favorable for strong tornadoes along
with wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph along and ahead of the line. The
severe threat ends once the line passes and the winds turn
northwest as the cold front passes. In addition to the severe
threat, non-convective strong wind gusts will continue. At the
coast, a High Surf Advisory will continue through Thursday
evening. A High Risk of Rip Currents continues through Friday
night. A Coastal Flood Warning remains in effect for the area
around Mobile Bay for moderate coastal flooding to 2 to 3.5 feet
above normally dry ground and a Coastal Flood Advisory for the
remainder of the coast through 6 AM Thursday.

The line of storms exits east of the area by around 5 AM with a
few lingering showers possible southeast of I-65 during the early
mid-morning hours. Skies will clear rapidly from west to east
during the afternoon hours on Thursday. Dry conditions with
building high pressure continue through Friday.

Highs on Thursday will be in the low to mid 70s in most areas with
upper 70s possible in far eastern areas. Lows Thursday night
range from the low to mid 40s northwest of I-65 to upper 40s and
low 50s southeast of I-65. Highs on Friday will be in the low to
mid 70s./13

&&

.MOB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AL...Wind Advisory until midnight CDT tonight for ALZ053>060.

     Coastal Flood Warning until 6 AM CDT Thursday for ALZ263>265.

     High Wind Warning until midnight CDT tonight for ALZ051-052-
     261>266.

     High Rip Current Risk through late Friday night for ALZ265-266.

     Coastal Flood Advisory until 6 AM CDT Thursday for ALZ266.

     High Surf Warning until 6 PM CDT Thursday for ALZ265-266.

FL...Wind Advisory until midnight CDT tonight for FLZ203>206.

     High Wind Warning until midnight CDT tonight for FLZ201-202.

     High Rip Current Risk through late Friday night for FLZ202-204-
     206.

     Coastal Flood Advisory until 6 AM CDT Thursday for FLZ202-204-
     206.

     High Surf Warning until 6 PM CDT Thursday for FLZ202-204-206.

MS...Wind Advisory until midnight CDT tonight for MSZ067-075-076-078-
     079.

GM...Small Craft Advisory from 7 AM to 1 PM CDT Thursday for GMZ650-
     655-670-675.

     Gale Warning until 7 AM CDT Thursday for GMZ630>636-650-655-670-
     675.

&&

This product is also available on the web at:
www.weather.gov/mob

In the hours before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
918 PM CDT WED MAR 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0846 PM     TORNADO          MCLAIN                  31.11N 88.83W
03/30/2022                   GREENE             MS   AMATEUR RADIO

            NUMEROUS POWER LINES AND TREES DOWN IN THE
            MCLAIN COMMUNITY. REPORTS OF TREES AND
            DEBRIS OVER OLD HIGHWAY 24. TDS OBSERVED ON
            RADAR. TIME ESTIMATED.

&&

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
940 PM CDT WED MAR 30 2022

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0917 PM     TSTM WND DMG     1 S GILBERTOWN          31.87N 88.32W
03/30/2022                   CHOCTAW            AL   STORM CHASER

            REPORTS OF TREE DAMAGE A FEW MILES SOUTH OF
            GILBERTOWN, AL.

&&

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.

Mobile Downtown (BFM), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 16 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:00 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

80 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 81 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.