EF0 tornado, Barlow Bend, Alabama, March 15, 2025

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

March 15, 2025

Touchdown

9:10 PM CDT (02:10 UTC)

Lifted

9:11 PM CDT (02:11 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

1.4 miles (2.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Clarke County

Touchdown point

31.467, -87.603

Lift-off point

31.479, -87.584

Record number

2503152010-01

17 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 87 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.

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.

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 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.

Evergreen (GZH), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:09 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.