EF1 tornado, Douglas, Alabama, February 16, 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 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

February 16, 2025

Touchdown

1:05 AM CST (07:05 UTC)

Lifted

1:11 AM CST (07:11 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.2 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Marshall County

Touchdown point

34.133, -86.316

Lift-off point

34.136, -86.303

Record number

2502160105-01

28 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BMX and NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Cattle trailer flipped over beside farm building that was destroyed
• One tree abraded, and several trees snapped about 15 feet above the base. Also large branches blown down in this area.
• Top of tree was snapped off along the road.
• Move point 200 yards away from road in tree line

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 rapidly developed along a line of severe thunderstorms entering southwestern Marshall County, first snapping several softwood trees along Mount Hebron Road. The tornado continued along this road as it approached Mount Hebron Douglas Road, snapping large softwood branches along its path. The most concentrated damage occurred just northeast of the intersection with Mount Hebron Douglas Road, where several farm outbuildings and barns were destroyed. This was at and immediately east of the intersection with New Clear Creek Road. Here, a power pole was snapped about 5 to 7 feet from the top of the pole. Also at this location, a cattle trailer was overturned and moved several feet. A well-built farm outbuilding suffered collapsed walls at this location. The tornado continued northeast of this location to the farm next door, destroying a small hay barn and another farm outbuilding across the street. This particular building had a covered overhang and was open on the end where the tornado approached, which contributed to it's failing. Other damage was noted in the vicinity of Mount Hebron Road to the north and the south, which was mainly large branches blown down or sporadic trees that were broken. This was determined to be related to straight-line winds.

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 03:12 UTC and running to 07:36 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 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:02 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

8 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.