EF1 tornado, Rockford to Kellyton, Alabama, April 2, 2024

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

April 2, 2024

Touchdown

11:28 PM CDT (04:28 UTC)

Lifted

11:31 PM CDT (04:31 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.6 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Coosa County

Touchdown point

32.918, -86.245

Lift-off point

32.933, -86.203

Record number

2404022228-01

36 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Timber damage evident on S2 NDVI

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

A surface low positioned over Lake Michigan moved an associated cold front through Central Alabama during the evening of April 2. While a widespread severe weather outbreak unfolded to the north, Alabama saw more concentrated areas of severe weather across northern and central counties in the state. After 10 PM CDT April 2, a small mesoscale convective vortex developed within a broken line of thunderstorms, spawning four tornadoes and areas of wind damage across northern Dallas, southern Chilton, and central and eastern Coosa counties. Three of the tornadoes were rated EF1, with damage primarily consisting of trees and sporadic small structures.

A brief tornado touched down northwest of Rockford near Kings Bridge Rd causing minor timber damage. Satellite imagery depicted a swath of heavier vegetation/timber damage between Kings Bridge Rd and County Road 47 to suggest low-end EF1 intensity of 90 mph. The tornado continued northeast causing additional timber damage near County Road 47 and US Highway 231, dissipating shortly thereafter.

A brief tornado touched down near Kellyton along County Road 62 causing a corridor of timber damage that was most notable near the intersection with AL Highway 9. The tornado continued northeast crossing US Highway 280 where additional timber damage occurred. The tornado dissipated after causing additional timber damage on County Road 50. Maximum winds were estimated at 80 mph.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:10 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:47 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:00 UTC and running to 05:02 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 01:16 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.

Alexander City (ALX), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:30 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 2024 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

68 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 69 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.