EF2 tornado, Midway to Avant, Alabama, May 10, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 10, 2024

Touchdown

2:03 AM CDT (07:03 UTC)

Lifted

2:25 AM CDT (07:25 UTC)

On the ground

22 minutes

Path length

24.2 miles (39.0 km)

Path width

1,200 yards (1097 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Monroe, Conecuh and Butler counties

Touchdown point

31.714, -87.064

Lift-off point

31.630, -86.672

Record number

2405100103-01

216 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 128 mph.

• Pine trees snapped. A few on homes. One on a car. Debris mostly cleared. Laying in same direction as ast.
• Multiple trees down, one large oak uprooted with large branches broken off. One large tree landed on and damaged a portion of a house.
• Wide swath of trees down multiple snaps. One tree destroyed a small cabin. Divergent pattern. Single wide moved off foundation by a few feet.
• A few large pine trees snapped at Rikards mill.

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

Two storm complexes moved across southeastern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama, and into the Florida Panhandle during the early morning hours of 5/10 producing destructive straight-line winds and multiple tornadoes.

A unique, long track multi-vortex EF2 tornado occurred from just south-southwest of Midway, Alabama, tracking east-southeast through Georgiana, Alabama on the morning of May 10th, 2024. This tornado began south of Midway west of County Road 5 where it quickly intensified to EF2 strength after crossing this road. The tornado wiped out an entire section of forest with numerous low tree snaps and uproots at this location. As the tornado continued east-southeast, it weakened briefly until reaching County Road 79. Here the tornado became a large multi-vortex with at least 4 to 5 distinct sub-vortices that spanned from just north of County Road 106 to just north of County Road 79 in Commerce, indicating the larger parent tornado vortex was upwards of 0.7 miles wide (1,200 yards). Several of the sub-vortices were around EF1 to EF2 intensity, and where several of these vortices merged into the center of the tornado path north of Commerce, nearly the entire forest sustained tree snaps or uproots. As the tornado continued southeast, it crossed County Road 33 where a potential satellite tornado or sub-vortex rotated in from the southwest. EF2 tree damage including numerous tree snaps or uproots were noted east of this location after the sub-vortex merged into the main tornado track. Periodic high-end EF1 to low end EF2 tree damage persisted through State Highway 106 and Hank Williams Road. Here the tornado broke down into at least 5 sub-vortices that once again were confined within a .7 mile diameter. Each sub-vortex was around mid to high end EF1 intensity with its own focused convergent damage path. Along the centerline of the tornado track, low end EF2 damage to trees occurred in the area. The tornado continued southeast towards I-65, flipping a manufactured home a couple times along State Highway 106 across from the gas station. The tornado became much narrower and weaker as it continued into Georgiana, periodically uprooting or snapping trees along its path. The final observable damage location was near and just east of Taft Skipper Road where a couple outbuildings were destroyed, and a small swath of trees were uprooted in a convergent pattern. This survey was able to be completed with the assistance of NASA SPoRT, NASAMSFC, NASA CSDA and the NASA Disasters Program providing high resolution Planet satellite imagery and with Digital Globe Maxar for high resolution Worldview satellite imagery. Without the availability of this remote sensing imagery, the true path length, width, track, and intensity of this tornado would not have been able to be determined.

A unique, long track multi-vortex EF2 tornado occurred from just south-southwest of Midway, Alabama, tracking east-southeast through Georgiana, Alabama on the morning of May 10th, 2024. This tornado began south of Midway west of County Road 5 where it quickly intensified to EF2 strength after crossing this road. The tornado wiped out an entire section of forest with numerous low tree snaps and uproots at this location. As the tornado continued east-southeast, it weakened briefly until reaching County Road 79. Here the tornado became a large multi-vortex with at least 4 to 5 distinct sub-vortices that spanned from just north of County Road 106 to just north of County Road 79 in Commerce, indicating the larger parent tornado vortex was upwards of 0.7 miles wide (1,200 yards). Several of the sub-vortices were around EF1 to EF2 intensity, and where several of these vortices merged into the center of the tornado path north of Commerce, nearly the entire forest sustained tree snaps or uproots. As the tornado continued southeast, it crossed County Road 33 where a potential satellite tornado or sub-vortex rotated in from the southwest. EF2 tree damage including numerous tree snaps or uproots were noted east of this location after the sub-vortex merged into the main tornado track. Periodic high-end EF1 to low end EF2 tree damage persisted through State Highway 106 and Hank Williams Road. Here the tornado broke down into at least 5 sub-vortices that once again were confined within a .7 mile diameter. Each sub-vortex was around mid to high end EF1 intensity with its own focused convergent damage path. Along the centerline of the tornado track, low end EF2 damage to trees occurred in the area. The tornado continued southeast towards I-65, flipping a manufactured home a couple times along State Highway 106 across from the gas station. The tornado became much narrower and weaker as it continued into Georgiana, periodically uprooting or snapping trees along its path. The final observable damage location was near and just east of Taft Skipper Road where a couple outbuildings were destroyed, and a small swath of trees were uprooted in a convergent pattern. This survey was able to be completed with the assistance of NASA SPoRT, NASAMSFC, NASA CSDA and the NASA Disasters Program providing high resolution Planet satellite imagery and with Digital Globe Maxar for high resolution Worldview satellite imagery. Without the availability of this remote sensing imagery, the true path length, width, track, and intensity of this tornado would not have been able to be determined.

A unique, long track multi-vortex EF2 tornado occurred from just south-southwest of Midway, Alabama, tracking east-southeast through Georgiana, Alabama on the morning of May 10th, 2024. This tornado began south of Midway west of County Road 5 where it quickly intensified to EF2 strength after crossing this road. The tornado wiped out an entire section of forest with numerous low tree snaps and uproots at this location. As the tornado continued east-southeast, it weakened briefly until reaching County Road 79. Here the tornado became a large multi-vortex with at least 4 to 5 distinct sub-vortices that spanned from just north of County Road 106 to just north of County Road 79 in Commerce, indicating the larger parent tornado vortex was upwards of 0.7 miles wide (1,200 yards). Several of the sub-vortices were around EF1 to EF2 intensity, and where several of these vortices merged into the center of the tornado path north of Commerce, nearly the entire forest sustained tree snaps or uproots. As the tornado continued southeast, it crossed County Road 33 where a potential satellite tornado or sub-vortex rotated in from the southwest. EF2 tree damage including numerous tree snaps or uproots were noted east of this location after the sub-vortex merged into the main tornado track. Periodic high-end EF1 to low end EF2 tree damage persisted through State Highway 106 and Hank Williams Road. Here the tornado broke down into at least 5 sub-vortices that once again were confined within a .7 mile diameter. Each sub-vortex was around mid to high end EF1 intensity with its own focused convergent damage path. Along the centerline of the tornado track, low end EF2 damage to trees occurred in the area. The tornado continued southeast towards I-65, flipping a manufactured home a couple times along State Highway 106 across from the gas station. The tornado became much narrower and weaker as it continued into Georgiana, periodically uprooting or snapping trees along its path. The final observable damage location was near and just east of Taft Skipper Road where a couple outbuildings were destroyed, and a small swath of trees were uprooted in a convergent pattern. This survey was able to be completed with the assistance of NASA SPoRT, NASAMSFC, NASA CSDA and the NASA Disasters Program providing high resolution Planet satellite imagery and with Digital Globe Maxar for high resolution Worldview satellite imagery. Without the availability of this remote sensing imagery, the true path length, width, track, and intensity of this tornado would not have been able to be determined.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 03:42 UTC and running to 09:27 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:57 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 Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:03 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

12 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.