EF1 tornado, Murphy Station to Newville, Alabama, March 12, 2026

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.

Rating, as surveyed

EF1, preliminary

Date

March 12, 2026

Touchdown

4:09 AM CDT (09:09 UTC)

Lifted

4:17 AM CDT (09:17 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

2.0 miles (3.2 km)

Path width

387 yards (354 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Henry County

Touchdown point

31.426, -85.347

Lift-off point

31.415, -85.316

Highest wind the damage implies

100 mph

Surveyed by

NWS TAE

The office's name for it

Newville Tornado

Survey last edited

March 13, 2026

Record number

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

An aerial survey indicated that a tornado touched down northwest of Newville, AL damaging the roof of a two-story business near the intersection of West Columbia Road and Reynolds Street. As the tornado crossed downtown Newville, it snapped and uprooted many trees and damaged the roofs of several businesses between the Seaboard Coastline Railroad tracks and Oak Lane including E. Columbia Road. The tornado snapped trees on Wheddon Farm Road before lifting near U.S. 431. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 100 mph which is EF-1 strength.

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

A squall line swept through the tri-state area ahead of a cold front on March 12th. Numerous reports of severe weather were received.

An EF-1 tornado touched down east of Poor Creek and tracked east, south of CR 25 before lifting at CR 27. Along the way, the tornado snapped and uprooted a large swath of trees, overturned an outbuilding, significantly damaged the roof of one mobile home and shifted another off its base. Maximum winds were estimated to be 100 mph based on the tree damage.

An aerial survey indicated that a tornado touched down northwest of Newville, AL damaging the roof of a two-story business near the intersection of West Columbia Road and Reynolds Street. As the tornado crossed downtown Newville, it snapped and uprooted many trees and damaged the roofs of several businesses between the Seaboard Coastline Railroad tracks and Oak Lane including E Columbia Road. The tornado snapped trees on Wheddon Farm Road before lifting near U.S. 431. Maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 100 mph which is EF-1 strength.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:54 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 09:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 04:31 UTC and running to 11:03 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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:31 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.

Dothan Municipal (DHN), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Rucker radar (KEOX), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:09 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

23 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.