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EF1 tornado in Shelby County, Alabama

Tornado March 26, 2011 · Shelby County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
0.2 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
$18K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

A brief EF1 tornado with winds of 90 mph touched down just south of the intersection of County Road 10 and Homeland Way in the Aldrich community, approximately 3 miles northwest of Montevallo. Ten to twenty trees were either snapped or uprooted along the short, 0.19 mile track. In addition, one fourth of an outbuilding's metal roof was peeled off and tossed 50 yards.

The wider storm

A stalled boundary sagged southward into North Central Alabama on Saturday, March 26, and became a focus for convection ahead of an approaching storm system. Through the day, as the air mass south of the boundary became increasingly unstable, thunderstorms developed across much of the area. This activity continued into the overnight hours. With the approach of a surface low and cold front, activity reintensified early Sunday morning, March 27, and continued through the pre-dawn hours on Monday as the cold front slowly moved through the area.

Began near Aldrich (33.1223, -86.9194).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 293450. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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