EF1 tornado, Mobile County, Alabama, May 7, 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 7, 2026

Touchdown

9:02 AM CDT (14:02 UTC)

Lifted

9:09 AM CDT (14:09 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.4 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Mobile County

Touchdown point

30.538, -88.318

Lift-off point

30.508, -88.249

Highest wind the damage implies

88 mph

Surveyed by

NWS MOB

The office's name for it

Grand Bay

Survey last edited

May 26, 2026

Record number

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

Preliminary ground survey confirms low end EF1 damage northeast of Grand Bay, Alabama. Maximum intensity of 88 mph was found on Jim McNeil Loop Road where several large tree limbs were down over a compact area. The tornado tracked southeast and produced sporadic damage on Dedicated Road where a horse trailer was flipped and more trees were damaged. After passing over Old Pascagoula Road, additional tree damage with downed limbs and snapped trees were found on Wells Road West. Satellite data will be examined in the coming weeks to confirm the starting point of the tornado, which is likely further to the northwest in wooded areas over Jackson Creek east of Grand Bay Wilmer Road.

After review of available Sentinel 2 satellite imagery, the beginning and end points of the tornado have been adjusted to reflect a narrow corridor of persistent tree damage along the tornado track. The start point is brought back to just south of Davis Lane along Jackson Creek where minor tree damage becomes evident. The end point was adjusted southeast across Interstate 10 where tree damage became apparent again in the vicinity of Boe Road and Henley Road, in line with the location that the radar TDS began to dissipate. No additional damage is visible southeast of this location. Further refinements of the track are possible later as higher resolution imagery becomes available.

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

11 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MOB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 88 mph.

• Several large tree limbs down over a compact area. Tornado may have began farther northwest.
• Survey large branches broken off softwood trees at this location. Potentially end of weak tornado track.
• Weak radar TDS at this location. Tree damage also apparent at this location via Sentinel 2 imagery.
• Multiple trees taken down in a narrow corridor visible via Sentinel 2 satellite imagery.

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

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.

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 12:49 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.

Mobile/Bates Field (MOB), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:04 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

1 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.