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EF0 tornado in Shelby County, Alabama

Tornado February 27, 2009 · Shelby County, Alabama

EF0

Rating

1.8 mi

Path length

25 yd

Path width

$5K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 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

The tornado touched down briefly near County Road 11 in Chelsea. There was no solid path of destruction, but the tornado was witnessed by several people. Damage in the area included several trees and power lines that were blown down, windows blown out of multiple cars, and a gas station sign that was destroyed. Winds were estimated around 75 mph.

The wider storm

A slow moving cold front brought an extended period of severe weather and heavy rain, that lasted about 24 hours. The storms produced damaging winds, large hail, flooding rains, and at least 4 tornadoes.

Began near Argyle (33.3478, -86.6475).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Lee County EF1 Lee County EF0 Hale County EF0 Tallapoosa County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 156686. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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