EF1 tornado, Deer Range to Bowles, Alabama, December 28, 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

December 28, 2024

Touchdown

11:04 PM CST (05:04 UTC)

Lifted

11:18 PM CST (05:18 UTC)

On the ground

14 minutes

Path length

7.1 miles (11.5 km)

Path width

700 yards (640 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Conecuh County

Touchdown point

31.500, -87.053

Lift-off point

31.582, -86.980

Record number

2412282304-01

73 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.

• North side of damage… maybe
• Building shifted off pilings
• Trees uprooted facing due north. Trees on east side of road laying due west
• Trailer home thrown north into adjacent treeline

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

A multi-day severe weather episode occurred across southeast Mississippi into southwest and south-central Alabama and the Florida Panhandle with round #1 beginning the afternoon of December 27th and lasting through the evening hours and round #2 beginning the afternoon of December 28th and lasting into the early morning hours of December 29th. Multiple tornadoes and areas of damage were reported.

An EF0 tornado began along Highway 41 north of Wesley Road. Along|this road trees were uprooted facing due north, with some of the|trees on the eastern side of the road uprooted laying due west.|The next location ground survey crew were able to reach was along|Highway 84 east of Repton. Here some more tree uproots occurred.|It's possible the tornado did more damage to the southwest,|however given the intermittent damage path and limited road|network made it difficult to assess. It is possible this tornado|began sooner and/or ended later than the current start and end|points have, and this will be fine-tuned as high-resolution|satellite imagery becomes available.

The tornado touched down a quarter of a mile south of County Road 5 and Old Federal Road junction, where a few trees were uprooted. The tornado continued to the north-northeast, uprooting a few more trees and shifting Bethany Baptist Church slightly off of its foundation. The tornado crossed into Conecuh County, moving just northeast of County Road 15, uprooting a few more trees before lifting. Special thanks to the Monroe and Conecuh County EMAs for their assistance with the survey.

The tornado touched down a quarter of a mile south of County Road 5 and Old Federal Road junction, where a few trees were uprooted. The tornado continued to the north-northeast, uprooting a few more trees and shifting Bethany Baptist Church slightly off of its foundation. The tornado crossed into Conecuh County, moving just northeast of County Road 15, uprooting a few more trees before lifting. Special thanks to the Monroe and Conecuh County EMAs for their assistance with the survey.

The tornado touched town just west of County Road 4, where several trees were snapped or uprooted, and a trailer was tossed. The tornado moved to the northeast, snapping more trees along its path. As the tornado moved across Bookers Mill Road, dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted. In this location, the metal roof of 3 log cabins was peeled back, and a chapel was shifted off of its foundation. The tornado continued on its northeasterly path, crossing County Road 30 and County Road 32, snapping or uprooting more trees. The tornado lifted just west of State Highway 83. ||Update 2/26/2025: Extended the start point of the tornado southwest solely within forested regions west of County Road 4 based on Sentinel satellite imagery depicting a narrow path of forest damage. This connects with the tornado track surveyed downstream by ground survey crews.

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 00:34 UTC and running to 07:24 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 00:58 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.

Evergreen (GZH), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 148 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:03 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

76 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 77 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.