EF1 tornado in Dallas County, Alabama

Tornado March 2, 2012 · Dallas County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

18.9 mi

Whole path

600 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 600 yards (0.34 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 tornado initially touched down in rural southeast Perry County along Oscar Price Road, just northeast of Suttle. It followed a northeastward path through southeastern Perry County, before crossing the Oakmulgee Creek, moving into Dallas County. In this location, at least 1000 trees were snapped in a wide swath near County Road 282. The tornado proceeded to Paul M Grist State Park and blown out winds and tore shingles off at the park center. Additionally, two campers were toppled, and hundreds more trees were snapped. The tornado continued northeast toward Highway 22 and County Road 294, where a brick home sustained minor damage and hundreds more trees were snapped or uprooted. It continued to snap and uproot many more trees across northern Dallas County, before crossing into Autauga county, where it eventually lifted.

The wider storm

On March 2, 2012, a strong cold front moved through Central Alabama. Severe thunderstorms developed along and ahead of this front. Some of these thunderstorms were supercells. These supercells produced damage across southern and eastern sections of the area. Damaging straight line winds, tornadoes, large hail and localized flooding occurred with this event.

Began near Summerfield (32.5751, -87.0714).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Tallapoosa County 1 dead EF2 Coosa County EF1 Lowndes County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 374331. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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