EF1 tornado, Holly Pond to Baileyton, Alabama, May 22, 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

May 22, 2026

Touchdown

12:57 PM CDT (17:57 UTC)

Lifted

1:14 PM CDT (18:14 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

8.7 miles (14.0 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Cullman County

Touchdown point

34.181, -86.645

Lift-off point

34.291, -86.591

Highest wind the damage implies

107 mph

Surveyed by

NWS HUN

The office's name for it

Baileyton Tornado

Survey last edited

May 23, 2026

Record number

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

The tornado touched down at approximately 12:57 PM CDT just north of U.S. Highway 278 and west of Holly Pond near the intersection of County Roads 1650 and 1682. There, it quickly assumed EF1 status, uprooting a hardwood tree, and causing door damage to small farm outbuildings nearby. The tornado tracked generally northeastward, uprooting and snapping large hardwood trees along County Rd 1683. Farther northeast, near the intersection of County Roads 1709, 1710, and 1711, multiple hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted, and in a small neighborhood there, a house experienced roof damage. The tornado continued to track generally northeastward across a mix of open farmland and woodland, with snapped and uprooted hardwood trees again observed along County Rd 1716. To the northeast in the Brooklyn community, the tornado uprooted and snapped hardwood trees along County Rd 1684, and minor roof damage occurred to a single family dwelling. There were also two cattle deaths due to tree falls off of County Rd 1684. The tornado crossed northward on the east side of Brooklyn, and headed farther northeast to east side of Baileyton, where it occasionally snapped and uprooted hardwood trees along the way. Just to the northeast of Baileyton along County Rd 1762, the tornado caused tree damage, with one large tree falling on and damaging a truck. Roof damage also occurred to a nearby house. Farther northeast along County Rd 1763, the tornado uprooted hardwood and softwood trees, pushed a mobile home off its foundation, and caused significant roof damage to the dwelling. The tornado began curving slightly westward as it neared the intersections of Highway 67 and 69, causing sporadic tree damage along the way and also along Apple Grove Rd. The tornado then tracked north-northwestward, ending on County Rd 1589 just west of AL Highway 67 at approximately 1:14 PM CDT.

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

54 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 107 mph.

• Multiple including power pole
• Tree not in the best health
• Mobile home tipped over off foundation support

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

A series of mini-supercells developed during the late morning into the early afternoon hours. One of the thunderstorms produced a tornado in northeast Cullman County. Repetitive rainfall caused excessive rainfall and flash flooding across parts of Cullman County.

The tornado touched down just north of U.S. Highway 278 and west of Holly Pond near the intersection of County Roads 1650 and 1682. There, it quickly assumed EF1 status, uprooting a hardwood tree, and causing door damage to small farm outbuildings nearby. The tornado tracked generally northeastward, uprooting and snapping large hardwood trees along County Road 1683. Farther northeast, near the intersection of County Roads 1709, 1710, and 1711, multiple hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted, and in a small neighborhood there, a house experienced roof damage. The tornado continued to track generally northeastward across a mix of open farmland and woodland, with snapped and uprooted hardwood trees again observed along County Road 1716. To the northeast in the Brooklyn community, the tornado uprooted and snapped hardwood trees along County Road 1684, and minor roof damage occurred to a single family dwelling. There were also two cattle deaths due to tree falls off of County Road 1684. The tornado crossed northward on the east side of Brooklyn, and headed farther northeast to the east side of Baileyton, where it occasionally snapped and uprooted hardwood trees along the way. Just to the northeast of Baileyton along County Road 1762, the tornado caused tree damage, with one large tree falling on and damaging a truck. Roof damage also occurred to a nearby house. Farther northeast along County Road 1763, the tornado uprooted hardwood and softwood trees, pushed a mobile home off its foundation, and caused significant roof damage to the dwelling. The tornado began curving slightly westward as it neared the intersections of Highway 67 and 69, causing sporadic tree damage along the way and also along Apple Grove Road. The tornado then tracked north-northwestward, ending on County Road 1589 just west of Highway 67.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 16:04 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 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.

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 91 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:55 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

11 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.