EF0 tornado, Redstone Aaf, Alabama, May 27, 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

May 27, 2025

Touchdown

6:51 PM CDT (23:51 UTC)

Lifted

6:53 PM CDT (23:53 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Madison County

Touchdown point

34.640, -86.674

Lift-off point

34.640, -86.672

Record number

2505271751-01

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 83 mph.

• Fencing was bent. Had previous damage, but onsite worker said it was definitely damaged further.

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

Strong to severe thunderstorms, including miniature supercells, developed during the late afternoon and early evening hours before weakening and pushing east into Georgia after midnight. The thunderstorms produced damaging winds and a tornado in north central portions of Alabama. Isolated flash flooding occurred as well.

A brief tornado touched down on Redstone Arsenal just off Ranger Road. The tornado bent fencing while entering the property, then proceeded to shift dozens of 500 lb. storage tanks, tossing about 3 of them. Another metal trough tank was also tipped over and tossed. Then, after plowing through a chain-link fence, the tornado struck a light metal frame storage building. The bolts connecting the support columns to the foundation slab were sheared on three of the columns. The entire western flank of the building was collapsed in by the tornado, with metal framework bent as well. Some of the contents of the building were tossed out and strewn downwind several hundred yards found by on-site employees. As quickly as the tornado developed, it dissipated short of Saturn Drive, with no further identifiable damage found downwind.

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

NWS Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 27, 6:40 PM CDT, 11 minutes earlier.

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In the hours before

Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Huntsville AL
406 PM CDT Tue May 27 2025

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0401 PM     Tornado          6 W Estill Springs      35.27N 86.23W
05/25/2025                   Franklin           TN   NWS Storm Survey

            A tornado touched down just east of the
            Bluegill Grill and Marina, producing
            sporadic tree damage between Holiday Drive
            and Awalt Road. The fallen trees missed the
            Bigfoot statue at the Bigfoot RV and Boat
            Storage facility located at the end of Awalt
            Road. At this location, the tornado was
            approximately 100 yards wide, snapping and
            uprooting several hardwood trees. Windspeeds
            at this location were 93 mph, consistent
            with an EF1 tornado. From here, the tornado
            continued skipping to the East/Southeast,
            producing sporadic tree damage along the
            path on Rock Creek Road and again just after
            crossing 41A. Several hardwood and softwood
            trees were snapped and uprooted on Taylor
            Road. Sporadic tree damage continued north
            and east of Estill Springs, with several
            areas of large branches downed along the
            path. The tornado lifted east of Hwy 41A.

&&

AMP

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Redstone Arsenal (HUA), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:49 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.