TornadoLookup

Home / Alabama / Chilton

EF1 tornado in Chilton County, Alabama

Tornado April 2, 2024 · Chilton County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
8.3 mi
Whole path
350 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Dallas County → Chilton County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 350 yards (0.20 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

An EF1 tornado began in Dallas County and crossed into Chilton County. It downed more trees near residences on County Road 26 and County Road 16 before quickly dissipating as it crossed County Road 16. The total path length of the tornado was 8.28 miles.

The wider storm

A surface low positioned over Lake Michigan moved an associated cold front through Central Alabama during the evening of April 2. While a widespread severe weather outbreak unfolded to the north, Alabama saw more concentrated areas of severe weather across northern and central counties in the state. After 10 PM CDT April 2, a small mesoscale convective vortex developed within a broken line of thunderstorms, spawning four tornadoes and areas of wind damage across northern Dallas, southern Chilton, and central and eastern Coosa counties. Three of the tornadoes were rated EF1, with damage primarily consisting of trees and sporadic small structures.

Began near Riderville (32.6641, -86.9320).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

3 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1161502. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.