EF1 tornado, Carlton to Barlow Bend, Alabama, March 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 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

March 15, 2025

Touchdown

8:48 PM CDT (01:48 UTC)

Lifted

9:05 PM CDT (02:05 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

13.9 miles (22.4 km)

Path width

240 yards (219 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Clarke County

Touchdown point

31.291, -87.861

Lift-off point

31.417, -87.677

Record number

2503151948-01

24 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 100 mph.

• Visible tree damage at this location on Sentinel 2 satellite imagery. Planet imagery also confirms this with a narrow corridor of weak tree damage likely in the form of tree top snaps or uproots.
• Minor tree damage visible at this location on Sentinel 2 satellite imagery. Planet imagery also confirms this with a narrow corridor of weak tree damage likely in the form of tree top snaps or uproots.
• Narrow corridor of tree damage visible on sentinel 2 satellite imagery. Planet imagery also confirms this with a narrow corridor of weak tree damage likely in the form of tree top snaps or uproots.
• Narrow corridor of tree damage continues through this location visible on sentinel 2 satellite imagery. Planet imagery also confirms this with a narrow corridor of weak tree damage likely in the form of tree top snaps or uproots.

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

Thunderstorms developed across the area during the evening hours Some of these storms became severe with several tornadoes developing across southwest Alabama.

An EF0 tornado began near Choctaw bluff tracking northeast tracking along the Alabama River. Sentinel and Planet satellite imagery revealed a narrow discontinuous path of tree damage, likely in the form of tree top snaps and/or uproots. This path tracks into the one building that sustained damage east of Walker Springs Road where some of the metal roofing material was removed towards the northwest. The tornado becomes untraceable after this point from satellite imagery, and will serve as the end point.||Utilized imagery and derived products made available through the NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the NASA Disasters Program.||Update May 15th, 2025: After further review of high-resolution satellite imagery that became available, it was determined this tornado began earlier to the south of Carlton where it was at its strongest point wiping out a large portion of forest west of Oil Well Road. Concentrated, weaker damage was evident all the way back to Belgreen Road which will serve as the starting point for this tornado. The intensity has been bumped to EF1 to match other corroborated ground and satellite survey tornadoes within the region. The tornadoes width was also increased to 240 yards which occurred back where it reached its peak intensity.

A new tornado was discovered after thorough review of available high resolution satellite imagery. A narrow continuous path of notable tree damage was observed from just southwest of Barlow Bend Road and east of Pops Road, continuing northeast to just north of Linda's Creek. The intensity is estimated to be EF0 in corroboration with other satellite and ground-based surveys in the region. The tornado reached a peak width of 200 yards.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:23 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:57 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:48 UTC and running to 02:34 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:47 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), 54 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:49 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

49 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.