EF1 tornado, Weeks Bay to Bon Secour, Alabama, June 19, 2023

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

June 19, 2023

Touchdown

1:00 PM CDT (18:00 UTC)

Lifted

1:09 PM CDT (18:09 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.6 km)

Path width

230 yards (210 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Baldwin County

Touchdown point

30.341, -87.791

Lift-off point

30.320, -87.778

Record number

2306191200-01

10 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 104 mph.

• Roof removed from barn. Roof was secured with hurricane straps. All doors on the barn were closed at the time.
• Damage about 100 years to the southwest
• Drone footage provided by Baldwin County EMA shows multiple snapped and uprooted trees in a narrow corridor between the field to the northwest and the home to the southeast.
• Single tree uprooted, other minor outbuilding damage.

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

Unusually strong wind shear combined with strong instability and numerous disturbances led to a very active period of severe weather through the month of June. Numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds were recorded along with a few tornadoes.

A tornado began just west of Benton Road in the trees prior to moving over a field and farmhouse. It was here that the first notable damage occurred. A farm building had its entire roof removed which was reinforced with hurricane straps. This would likely have required around 100mph wind gusts to accomplish. The roofing material was quickly wrapped around the tornadic circulation and thrown back into the trees behind the building. In addition to this, inflow winds rapidly strengthened with a tree stand to the southwest having multiple trees snapped and uprooted facing towards the northeast, resulting in the tornadic circulation being approximately 230 yards here. A garage attached to the home just east of the farm building had 50% of its roofing material removed and likewise thrown towards the back. A small outbuilding at this location was destroyed with debris thrown across the field. The tornado continued across the field into an area of forest where drone footage revealed multiple snaps and uproots along a narrow corridor around 100 yards wide. Based on Digital Globe Worldview satellite imagery the details of what happened for the rest of the tornado path have become clearer. The tornado turned to the south where it crossed a small pond to the southwest of a home uprooting a tree facing north. Sporadic uproots are visible on satellite imagery to the west of a large field within the forest, generally consisting of high end EF0 wind speeds. The tornado continued to the south-southeast through the forest, eventually intensifying notably west of Magnolia Springs Highway where numerous uproots are noted. This is where the tornado likely peaked in intensity with at least 100mph winds. The tornado may have continued southeast from here, but cloud cover in the area prevented visibility of the damage path in this area. Analysis further southeast will have to wait until a clear satellite pass is able to be analyzed.

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 17:26 UTC, 34 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:15 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 16:12 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.

Gulf Shores (JKA), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:58 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 2023 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.