Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2026

EF0 tornado, Baldwin County, Alabama, August 20, 2026

Name: EF0 tornado, Baldwin County, Alabama, August 20, 2026
Start: 2026-08-20T20:51:00.000Z
End: 2026-08-20T21:02:00.000Z
Location: Baldwin County, Alabama

This EF0 tornado ran 2.9 miles across Baldwin County on August 20, 2026, touching down at 3:51 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody.

Preliminary. This is NWS MOB's damage survey, filed in the Damage Assessment Toolkit as Briar Creek. The rating, the path and the casualties are the survey's and can change while it is revised. The Storm Prediction Center compiles the official record of 2026 from these surveys and publishes it in the spring of 2027; this page moves to that tornado's permanent address when it does.

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.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 survey

Rating, as surveyed: EF0, preliminary
Date: August 20, 2026
Touchdown: 3:51 PM CDT (20:51 UTC)
Lifted: 4:02 PM CDT (21:02 UTC)
On the ground: 11 minutes
Path length: 2.9 miles (4.6 km)
Path width: 150 yards (137 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Baldwin County
Touchdown point: 30.819, -87.952
Lift-off point: 30.845, -87.915
Highest wind the damage implies: 70 mph
Surveyed by: NWS MOB
The office's name for it: Briar Creek
Survey last edited: September 23, 2026
Record number: None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

What the survey found

Review of available Sentinel 2, Planet, and NISAR satellite imagery along with public/media provided video helped to determine the track, intensity, and width of the tornado that occurred in the Mobile River Delta. It was determined an EF0 with peak winds of 70mph and width around 150 yards occurred in the river delta just west of Briar Creek and south of the Mobile River causing minor tree damage along its track. The tornado crossed the far northern portion of the Mobile-Tensaw Cut-off Channel generally moving east-northeast before turning towards the northeast after crossing Briar Creek. It continued northeast across Big Lizard Creek near the railroad crossing adjacent to the Tensaw River, lifting at the river. Radar and satellite imagery support this being the end point of the tornado.

Written by NWS MOB in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

The damage survey

9 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 70 mph.

Planet and NISAR imagery reveal an approximately 70-yard-wide swath of minor tree damage associated with the tornado at this location.
Minor tree damage evident at this location via Planet and NISAR satellite imagery.
Minor tree damage visible at this location via Planet and NISAR satellite imagery.
Minor tree damage at this location visible via Planet and NISAR satellite imagery.

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

The surface observations

Bay Minette (1R8), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:51 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2026 tornado in Alabama Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of August 20, 2026

10 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries
August 20	4:09 PM EDT	EF1	Kent, DE	3.2	100
August 20	4:24 PM EDT	EF2	York, PA	1.1	100	1
August 20	4:30 PM EDT	EF1	Lancaster, PA	3.0	100
August 20	4:37 PM EDT	EF0	Lancaster, PA	0.3	75
August 20	4:38 PM EDT	EF0	Lancaster, PA	0.5	125
August 20	5:40 PM EDT	EF0	Chester, PA	0.2	30
August 20	5:41 PM EDT	EF1	Queen Anne's, MD	0.5	70
August 20	5:54 PM EDT	EF1	Kent, DE	1.3	60
August 20	6:02 PM EDT	EF0	Kent, DE	0.6	100
August 20	7:27 PM CDT	EF0	Hutchinson, SD	0.1	25

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

Sources

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.