EF1 tornado in Mobile County, Alabama

The tornado began near Rabbit Creek Drive and progressed

northeast over Rangeline Road, snapping several power poles along

the way. Strong straight-line winds, likely nearing 100 mph,

snapped several other power poles along a half mile stretch of

Rangeline Road south of the main circulation. It continued

northeast on Rabbit Creek Drive and caused minor damage to roofs

(missing shingles) and tree damage. Several trees were snapped and

a street sign was knocked down with another bent. The most

significant damage occurred near the Dog River, where multiple

trees were snapped near the base and some were uprooted. At least a

couple more power poles were snapped near the top, likely due to

a combination of trees falling on the lines and tornadic winds.

A very active severe weather season continued as an outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred across the area from the evening of the 30th into the early morning hours on the 31st. A strong spring storm system moved across the area. Ahead of the system plenty of Gulf moisture returned to the central Gulf coast. This led to a very unstable atmosphere over the region which combined to strong wind shear to produce 18 tornadoes which were rated from EF-0 to EF-2. In addition to the tornadoes, the storms produced damaging straight line winds and large hail. Numerous reports of damage came in from southeast Mississippi, southwest Alabama and the western Florida panhandle.