EF1 tornado, Steelwood to Silverhill, Alabama, January 9, 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

January 9, 2024

Touchdown

4:32 AM CST (10:32 UTC)

Lifted

4:35 AM CST (10:35 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.9 miles (3.0 km)

Path width

230 yards (210 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Baldwin County

Touchdown point

30.695, -87.819

Lift-off point

30.702, -87.789

Record number

2401090432-01

6 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 105 mph.

• Multiple tree uproots around the school in a convergent pattern. Tornado likely began here or in the field adjacent to the school to the west.
• Intermittent low end EF0 damage to trees.
• Minor roofing damage along with a few tree snaps and uproots.
• Approximate starting point of tornado, RFD surged here and first hints tornadogenesis where copious amounts of small tree debris was present along with one small, snapped softwood.

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

Multiple rounds of severe thunderstorms moved across southwest Alabama starting during the late evening hours of January 8th and continued through early morning hours of the 9th. This system produced four EF-0's and two EF-1's in Alabama.

An EF1 tornado touched down within a neighborhood off of US Highway 31 tracking eastward over a majority of Cambron Trail. The tornado likely started in a wooded area to the west of Cambron Trail and just east of Wildflower Trail. On Wildflower Trail, there were signs that low end wind damage was beginning to trees in the form of small tree limbs being knocked down and an old, rotted tree being snapped. However, this spot lacked convergent damage and was likely the rear inflow surge that occurred right before the tornado touched down. After touchdown, the tornado moved across Cambron Trail removing around 20% of roofing material off of multiple homes and uprooting/snapping multiple hardwood and softwood trees. Multiple fences in the neighborhood were also knocked down or damaged. The tornado crossed US Highway 31 by Cambron Trail, resulting in a couple uproots/snaps of softwood trees. Thanks to the availability of high-resolution satellite imagery, we were able to determine what happened between US Highway 31 and State Highway 59. The original Cambron Trail tornado began to track to the northeast, widening to around 230 yards before dissipating prior to reaching Darby Lane and State Highway 59. A new tornado developed to its southeast, which was originally thought to have been a part of this tornado.

An EF1 tornado touched down within a neighborhood off of US Highway 31 tracking eastward over a majority of Cambron Trail. The tornado likely started in a wooded area to the west of Cambron Trail and just east of Wildflower Trail. On Wildflower Trail, there were signs that low end wind damage was beginning to trees in the form of small tree limbs being knocked down and an old, rotted tree being snapped. However, this spot lacked convergent damage and was likely the rear inflow surge that occurred right before the tornado touched down. After touchdown, the tornado moved across Cambron Trail removing around 20% of roofing material off of multiple homes and uprooting/snapping multiple hardwood and softwood trees. Multiple fences in the neighborhood were also knocked down or damaged. The tornado crossed US Highway 31 by Cambron Trail, resulting in a couple uproots/snaps of softwood trees. Thanks to the availability of high-resolution satellite imagery, we were able to determine what happened between US Highway 31 and State Highway 59. The original Cambron Trail tornado began to track to the northeast, widening to around 230 yards before dissipating prior to reaching Darby Lane and State Highway 59. A new tornado developed to its southeast, which was originally thought to have been a part of this tornado.

An EF0 tornado touched down near Dick Higbee Road on the south side of the St. Michael Catholic High School where multiple trees were uprooted in a convergent pattern. It is possible the tornado touched down sooner in the adjacent field, however the next surveyable location to the west on Highway 181 did not have any visible damage. The tornado continued east from the high school causing a discontinuous path of damage including large tree limbs broken off. Any semblance of a discontinuous path disappears to the east of County Road 55 near Woodpecker Road, and the tornado end point was set at this location. The tornado was small, only peaking at around 20 yards in width with a peak wind speed of 75mph and path length of 5.09 miles.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:25 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:44 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 02:42 UTC and running to 12:18 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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.

Bay Minette (1R8), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:33 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

31 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.