Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2025

EF1 tornado, Jackson and DeKalb counties, Alabama, May 3, 2025

This EF1 tornado ran 13.3 miles across Jackson and DeKalb counties on May 3, 2025, touching down at 3:49 PM CDT and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
May 3, 2025
Touchdown
3:49 PM CDT (20:49 UTC)
Lifted
5:09 PM CDT (22:09 UTC)
On the ground
80 minutes
Path length
13.3 miles (21.4 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Jackson and DeKalb counties
Touchdown point
34.701, -85.794
Lift-off point
34.709, -85.561
Record number
2505031449-01

The damage survey

17 damage points were recorded along this path by 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.

  • Side awning removed. Flag pole destroyed. Ridge gap of building damaged but no panels destroyed or removed

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

The warnings

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:51 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUN
21:02 UTC21:10 UTCTornado WarningHUN
03:00 UTC14:00 UTCDense Fog AdvisoryHUN

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk. 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 air that afternoon

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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

8.8 hours before the tornado, 179 km from the path. May 3, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2025-05-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 57 joules per kilogram, CIN -22, lifted condensation level 732 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2025-05-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 116 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 43 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
57 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-22 J/kg
Surface CAPE
247 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
732 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
116 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

3.2 hours after it, 179 km from the path. May 4, 2025.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2025-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 66 joules per kilogram, CIN -92, lifted condensation level 964 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2025-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 9 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
66 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-92 J/kg
Surface CAPE
631 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
964 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-31 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:48 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ene GurleyJackson, ALTree reported down over the roadway by EMA at 147 County Road 10 Paint Rock, AL.
20:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne SkylineJackson, ALTree reported down on powerlines by EMA at County Road 245 at County Road 33 Hytop AL.
20:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ene LangstonJackson, ALTree reported down by EMA at 9277 CR 67 Langston, AL.
20:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ene PisgahJackson, ALTree limb reported down on a house by EMA at 3358 CR 60 in Jackson County AL.
20:48 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Ne WoodvilleJackson, ALReport of tree down block the road way by EMA at County Road 82 and County Road 30 in Scottsboro, AL.
20:48 UTCTSTM WND DMGLangstonJackson, ALTree reported down by EMA at Till Davis Road at County Road 67 Langston, AL.
20:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W IderJackson, ALA flag pole and tree were knocked down at the Rosalie Fire Station on Highway 71.
20:58 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 E IderDekalb, ALSeveral trees reported down by EMA in the Sulpher Springs area along HWY 11.
20:58 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 E IderDekalb, ALTree reported down by EMA at the Alabama Welcome Center on I-59.
20:59 UTCHAIL 13 Ne ScottsboroJackson, ALReport from mPING: Quarter (1.00 in.).
21:01 UTCTSTM WND DMG9 Se BridgeportJackson, ALA tree was knocked down blocking one lane at 1132 CR 310.
21:25 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Ne WoodvilleJackson, ALA tree was knocked down blocking both lanes about 1/2 mile from CR 30 along CR 82. Time estimated by radar.
21:31 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nw GaylesvilleCherokee, ALSeveral trees down north of Gaylesville, including CR 41 and CR 772, CR 826, CR 114, CR 81 at CR 77, and Hwy 35.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of May 3, 2025

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 310:54 AM EDTEF0Franklin, KY1.030
May 37:21 PM CDTEF0Lee, AL3.8175
May 39:02 PM EDTEF0Newton, GA1.9100$4,000
May 39:14 PM EDTEF1Talbot, GA5.8200
May 39:56 PM EDTEF0Pickens, SC2.725
May 310:00 PM EDTEF0Monroe, GA2.5175
May 312:43 AM EDTEF0Lincoln, NC1.320

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.