Home / Alabama / Pickens

EF1 tornado in Pickens County, Alabama

Tornado May 6, 2009 · Pickens County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

1.0 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 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

The tornado touched down along the Tombigbee River basin near the Rogersville Camp area. It then tracked northeastward for about a mile before it lifted. Several trees were snapped off and several tops of trees were taken off along the path. Some of the fallen trees landed on trailers and caused varying degrees of damage.

The wider storm

An upper level disturbance and a nearby stationary front combined to produce numerous severe thunderstorms across Central Alabama, that included damaging winds, large hail, and several tornadoes.

Began near Pickensville (33.1800, -88.2725).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Pickens County EF1 Tuscaloosa County EF1 Tuscaloosa County EF1 Walker County EF1 Jefferson County EF0 Walker County EF0 Walker County EF0 Blount County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 176000. 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.