EF1 tornado, Shawnee, Alabama, March 26, 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

March 26, 2023

Touchdown

8:27 PM CDT (01:27 UTC)

Lifted

8:30 PM CDT (01:30 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.4 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wilcox County

Touchdown point

31.942, -87.218

Lift-off point

31.954, -87.217

Record number

2303261927-01

18 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 110 mph.

• Small tree branches were downed with 2-3 uprooted trees and a snapped tree.
• A small corridor of a few trees snapped on the south side of the highway. Powerlines overhead were damaged by the trees.
• Beginning point of the tornado. Several uprooted and possibly snapped trees at this location based on worldview satellite imagery.
• After inspecting the treefall pattern in this area there is evidence of convergence and is associated with the second tornado. This damage was visible on Worldview satellite imagery.

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

A stalled front over northern portions of the area combined with favorable wind shear and instability led to the development of severe thunderstorms. Two tornadoes developed along with several reports of large hail.

A unique scenario unfolded between Highway 265 South and Highway 10 East on 3/27/2023. A rapid succession of tornadoes occurred from the same supercell producing three separate tornadoes discernible on high resolution Worldview satellite imagery. This first tornado occurred just southeast of a small lake/pond in between several dirt roads. The tornado began by moving due north on the right side of the lake and dirt road, expanding rapidly to about 500 yards in width and uprooting/snapping many softwood and hardwood trees. It was here that it reached its peak intensity around 110mph as an EF1. The tornado starts moving northeast after this point, quickly beginning an occlusion to the north and northwest which is clearly evident with a narrow convergent path of tree uproots visible on high resolution Worldview satellite imagery. The tornado reached its peak intensity by the small lake with winds around 110mph.

The second Estelle tornado began immediately as the prior tornado quickly occluded off to the northwest. This tornado began just east of the prior tornado path causing a narrow swath of tree uproots. It continued to the east for a brief moment before rapidly occluding northward, nearly completing a full cyclonic loop back to the southwest during its occlusion. A distinct convergent path of tree uproots was able to be seen via high resolution Worldview satellite imagery which allowed for the distinction of this tornado from the other two tornadoes in its vicinity. The tornado reached a peak intensity of 100mph and maximum width of 300 yards.

The third and final tornado in this cyclic supercell developed to the south of the occluding second tornado. This tornado began southwest of Highway 10 East where it quickly grew in size and intensified as it curved to the north, reaching a max width of 300 yards. Based on numerous uproots and snaps visible on high resolution Worldview satellite imagery, the tornadoes intensity is estimated to have peaked here at around 110mph. The tornado narrowed as it moved over Pursley Creek and weakened to EF0 intensity as it crossed Highway 10 East, downing a couple of trees as it crossed. From here the tornado remained weak intermittently damaging trees visible on worldview satellite imagery up to its crossing of highway 28 East. It appears the tornado lifted at this point as satellite imagery revealed no damage past the highway. Ground survey crew were able to assess the damage point at Highway 28 East where a couple trees were snapped and damaged powerlines.

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 22:49 UTC and running to 06:00 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 01:00 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), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:29 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

8 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.