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EF1 tornado in Clarke County, Alabama

Tornado March 15, 2025 · Clarke County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
13.9 mi
Path length
240 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 240 yards (0.14 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 EF0 tornado began near Choctaw bluff tracking northeast tracking along the Alabama River. Sentinel and Planet satellite imagery revealed a narrow discontinuous path of tree damage, likely in the form of tree top snaps and/or uproots. This path tracks into the one building that sustained damage east of Walker Springs Road where some of the metal roofing material was removed towards the northwest. The tornado becomes untraceable after this point from satellite imagery, and will serve as the end point.

Utilized imagery and derived products made available through the NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the NASA Disasters Program.

Update May 15th, 2025: After further review of high-resolution satellite imagery that became available, it was determined this tornado began earlier to the south of Carlton where it was at its strongest point wiping out a large portion of forest west of Oil Well Road. Concentrated, weaker damage was evident all the way back to Belgreen Road which will serve as the starting point for this tornado. The intensity has been bumped to EF1 to match other corroborated ground and satellite survey tornadoes within the region. The tornadoes width was also increased to 240 yards which occurred back where it reached its peak intensity.

The wider storm

Thunderstorms developed across the area during the evening hours Some of these storms became severe with several tornadoes developing across southwest Alabama.

Began near Carlton (31.2915, -87.8610).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1244986. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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