EF2 tornado, Huntsville Mills Arp to Tupelo, Alabama, May 20, 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

May 20, 2025

Touchdown

7:07 PM CDT (00:07 UTC)

Lifted

7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

7.3 miles (11.7 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Madison and Jackson counties

Touchdown point

34.765, -86.381

Lift-off point

34.782, -86.261

Record number

2505201807-01

117 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 134 mph.

• Minor roof damage as well but resident didn’t want photos taken
• NDVI Difference Imagery detects damage
• Pieces of the home along with the frame was scattered across the property amd all the way across the street
• Multiple hardwood trees also uprooted on the property

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

An outbreak of tornadoes, large hail, wind damage and flash flooding occurred during the afternoon and evening of the 20th. Fourteen tornadoes occurred in north Alabama, including 1 EF-0, 10 EF-1, 2 EF-2, and 1 EF-U (unknown) which was a waterspout on Wheeler Lake. One person was injured in Colbert County. There were also several reports of large hail, including baseball sized and larger in northern Lawrence and southeastern Lauderdale Counties. Damaging winds were also experienced as well with the severe thunderstorms. Lightning sparked a fire which resulted in severe structural and water damage and total loss to the Albertville Public Library which is scheduled to be demolished. There were two reports of flash flooding in Jackson County.

A tornado began by snapping several hardwood and softwood trees on the eastern side of Blossomwood in Huntsville, at the base of Monte Sano Mountain. Trees were downed and witness statements confirmed the tornado touchdown near the intersection of Randolph Avenue and Toll Gate Road. Further east, more widespread tree damage was noted on satellite imagery up the mountain at the end of Cleermont Drive near the Wildflower Hiking Trail. NVDI satellite imagery here shows that the tornado was|about 400 yards wide at its widest point crossing overtop Monte Sano, snapping and uprooting large swaths of trees in Monte Sano State Park. The tornado traversed the leeward side of the mountain and continued producing tree damage in Moontown, south of the Moontown Airport along Moontown and Bob Hunt Roads, just west of the Flint River. After crossing the Flint River south of U.S. Highway 72, the tornado began to weaken as it approached Madison County High School, downing several power poles to the east of the school on Brock Road. The tornado produced minor tree damage and minor damage to a barn in fields in the 1000-block of Salty Bottom Road before dissipating.

The tornado touched down on Acuff Road, downing a large swath of hardwood trees just east of Boulder Trail. A barn sustained roof damage here as|well, with some uplifting of the roof and peeling back of a few pieces of tin. From here, the tornado snapped and uprooted numerous hardwood trees as it moved across the field toward structures on Killingworth Cove Road. Here, the tornado had its strongest winds of 134 mph with a width of 400 yards. A mobile home was completely destroyed at this location, hurling the mangled frame 150-200 yards from its original location. Debris from the destroyed mobile home was strewn about 225-250 yards across the street and into the field leading to JB Hawkins Road. Two other structures at this location sustained damage. The home next door had significant roof damage, as well as projectiles that penetrated the side of the home in two locations. On the other side of the path on the corner of Killingsworth Cove Road and JB Hawkins Road, another home sustained major structural damage. Only portions of walls were left standing of the home, but survey teams discovered that no anchor bolts were used to attach the home to the foundation. All portions of the bases of walls that were investigated were toe nailed down, owing to the damage sustained at this location. From this location, the tornado climbed the elevation behind the homes on JB Hawkins, snapping and uprooting large swaths of hardwood trees before moving into Jackson County.

NVDI difference imagery indicated a tornado crossed the county line from Madison into Jackson County for nearly 5 miles, snapping and uprooting large swaths of hardwood trees before dissipating.

The tornado touched down just southeast of Highway 65 in Trenton, producing large limb damage on County Road (CR) 20. The tornado continued and strengthened along CR 20, producing sporadic hardwood and softwood tree damage just north of Little Nashville. Trees were snapped and uprooted along the path, with several broken power poles observed about 2 to 2.5 miles along CR 20. Tree damage and power pole damage here indicated the highest wind speed of 110 mph. Further northeast along the path, the tornado widened near an old community center near Guess Creek, maintaining the 110 mph wind speeds here. Several projectiles were impaled into the ground at this location, some of which were 2-3 feet into the ground. Large swaths of hardwood and softwood trees were also|downed here, with a width estimated at 275 yards. Minor roof damage was also noted, as well as an older outbuilding with the roof removed at this location. The tornado produced additional tree damage at a cemetery at the end of CR 20 before traversing more terrain, producing additional damage at a farm downstream on CR 17. Sporadic tree damage was found along CR 17 on Sleepy Lane, Wilkins Drive, and Pace Drive before crossing Highway 79. Beyond Highway 79, the tornado snapped and uprooted a few more isolated trees south of Maynard Cove before dissipating by CR 28. AL State EMA (ALEA) flight imagery and NVDI Difference Satellite imagery assisted the confirmation of trees downed in hard-to-access locations.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:44 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:36 UTC and running to 02:43 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:04 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

38 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.