EF0 tornado in Hale County, Alabama

Tornado May 22, 2026 · Hale County, Alabama

EF0

Rating

2.3 mi

Whole path

75 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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 entered Hale County from Marengo County came to an end just past the Hale County line, along Mount Olive Road, where tree branches were broken. Damage in Hale County was of EF0 intensity.

The wider storm

Numerous showers and thunderstorms occurred across Central Alabama during the late morning to early afternoon of May 22. Enough shear and instability were present to promote the development of small, low-topped supercells within a tropical environment. A few of these cells produced brief rotation, and three brief tornadoes occurred in Marengo and Tuscaloosa counties.

Began near Prairieville (32.5213, -87.7285).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Tuscaloosa County EF0 Marengo County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1329073. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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