EF0 tornado, Madrid, Alabama, January 25, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF0, preliminary

Date

January 25, 2026

Touchdown

2:02 PM CST (20:02 UTC)

Lifted

2:03 PM CST (20:03 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.1 miles (0.1 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Houston County

Touchdown point

31.023, -85.372

Lift-off point

31.023, -85.370

Highest wind the damage implies

85 mph

Surveyed by

NWS TAE

Survey last edited

January 27, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A tornado briefly developed along Decatur Road in southwestern Houston County. The tornado lifted the roof off of a manufactured home before dissipating shortly thereafter without causing any additional known damage. An associated Tornadic Debris Signature (TDS) was noted on the Eglin AFB (KEVX) Radar data. The damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado with winds of approximately 85 mph.

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

2 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS TAE, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

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

A line of strong to severe storms ahead of a cold front brought damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes to the tri-state area.

A tornado briefly developed along Decatur Road in southwestern Houston County. The tornado lifted the roof off of a manufactured home before dissipating shortly thereafter without causing any additional known damage. An associated Tornadic Debris Signature (TDS) was noted on the Eglin AFB (KEVX) Radar data. The damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado with winds of approximately 85 mph.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:43 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:50 UTC and running to 20:52 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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 Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:05 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 2026 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

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

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.

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.