EF1 tornado, Section to Roslie, Alabama, March 3, 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 3, 2023

Touchdown

12:39 PM CST (18:39 UTC)

Lifted

12:43 PM CST (18:43 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

5.0 miles (8.1 km)

Path width

105 yards (96 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Jackson County

Touchdown point

34.589, -85.995

Lift-off point

34.634, -85.927

Record number

2303031239-01

A prolonged damaging gradient wind event combined with an intense squall line during the daylight hours of the 3rd to produce widespread wind damage and impacts to the region. Numerous power outages resulted from power poles being snapped and power lines being brought down. All told, thousands were without power in north Alabama for at least for a couple of hours, and in some cases lasting into the next two to three days. Hundreds of reports of trees or limbs being knocked down were received, in many cases on homes, vehicles and other structures. Sadly, two people were killed outside their homes from fallen trees while picking up debris after the line of thunderstorms went through and additional high winds developed. Other minor injuries were also reported including one utility worker who was working to restore power.||A powerful low pressure system intensified rapidly as it moved northeast from Texas through Arkansas, southeast Missouri into western Kentucky. In doing so, very windy conditions developed across the Tennessee Valley ahead of an associated cold front and squall line. South winds increased to 35-45 mph, with gusts of 55-60 mph at times. An intense squall line moved in from Mississippi during the mid morning hours, sweeping east across the rest of the area through the midday hours. Peak wind gusts of 50-60 mph were reported frequently, with one gust up to 77 mph at Pryor Field in Decatur (Morgan County) and 69 mph at the Huntsville International Airport (Madison County). Also, at least two tornadoes were spawned by the line in Jackson County. Behind the line of thunderstorms, the sky cleared out rapidly, but southwest winds intensified as well, with 35-45 mph sustained winds, gusting at 55-65 mph. The winds finally subsided quickly near sunset, but not after additional damage occurred.

A tornado began south of Section where trees were uprooted and continued northward where it overturned a manufactured home, damaged underpinning and roofs of manufactured homes, and downed powerlines. The tornado then continued to uproot and snap trees as it tracked into Dutton, AL. A home had minor roof damage off of Hodge Road and County Road 124. The tornado removed metal roofing on a chicken house off of County Road 19 and then lifted.

A tornado tracked from County Road 88 where several trees were uprooted. Another tree was uprooted on County Road 61. Then, the tornado lifted on County Road 126 after producing minor roof damage to chicken houses.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:37 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:58 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:35 UTC and running to 19:04 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:11 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.

Scottsburo (4A6), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 37 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:37 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

21 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.