EF2 tornado, Waco to Tharptown, Alabama, February 15, 2025

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

February 15, 2025

Touchdown

11:20 PM CST (05:20 UTC)

Lifted

11:27 PM CST (05:27 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

3.9 miles (6.3 km)

Path width

170 yards (155 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

County

Franklin County

Touchdown point

34.479, -87.659

Lift-off point

34.514, -87.608

Record number

2502152320-01

45 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Images from Lawrence County EMA.
• Move point SW 500 yards. Done.
• Move to NW about 500 yards
• Tree fell on a home causing minor roof damage. Photos provided by Franklin County EMA.

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

An impactful severe weather event occurred during the late evening of the 15th into the early morning of the 16th. A squall line of severe thunderstorms pushed east across north Alabama, producing widespread wind damage and 6 tornadoes (1 EF-2 and 5 EF-1). Numerous trees, power poles and power lines were knocked down, resulting in road blockages and structural damage.

The tornado quickly formed while embedded within the line of severe thunderstorms late Saturday night. It touched down just south of Russellville Road and east of Harris Creek. There the tornado blew out the doors of a large, metal storage shed and lofted an ATV across the property. The tornado shifted east-northeast just south of Russellville Road and Highway 75 where it uprooted numerous hardwood trees, some of which fell on houses. Residents at this location received advanced National Weather Service warning and took refuge in their tornado shelter before their home was impacted. Several homes also experienced partial roof loss further east on Russellville Road. The tornado shifted north of Highway 24 where the vortex contracted and strengthened. Among uprooted hardwood trees on one property, the upper quarter of a large silo collapsed. Further east, numerous trees were uprooted, some on houses and cars. Near the Highway 78 and Highway 83 junction, a manufactured home was impacted with roof and siding damage. The resident was thankful for the early warning from the National Weather Service as it allowed time for her family to safely seek refuge. The tornado tracked east-northeast of Highway 78 and destroyed several small farm buildings before impacting homes near the McGuire Loop area. Near McGuire Loop and Rocky Glen Road, the tornado knocked down numerous power lines in trees before completely removing the roof of one single-family residence. A brick wall collapsed on an male occupant requiring hospitalization. This is where the strongest intensity of the tornado likely occurred. The tornado traveled to the northeast portion of McGuire Loop where pine trees were snapped. The tornado lifted west of Highway 87.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:56 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:12 UTC and running to 06:18 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 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.

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.

Haleyville (1M4), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:21 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 2025 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.