EF2 tornado in Chilton County, Alabama

Tornado March 2, 2012 · Chilton County, Alabama

EF2

Rating

28.2 mi

Whole path

700 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 700 yards (0.40 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 touched down just west of Interstate 65, south of exit 200 in Chilton County. Here, a few trees were snapped or uprooted. It quickly strengthened and grew to its maximum width of 700 yards as it crossed County Road 502. The tornado moved east across US Highway 31 near the intersection with County Road 526, 1.5 miles south of Verbena. The tornado intensified to 125 mph and destroyed one home and caused significant damage to another, as well as mowing down hundreds of trees around the two homes. The tornado continued to snap and uproot trees as it neared County Road 524, where it also destroyed two single-wide manufactured homes and caused significant damage to two homes. A total of thirteen homes were damage or destroyed in and around Verbena. The tornado then crossed into Coosa County, before 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 Verbena (32.7246, -86.5361).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Tallapoosa County 1 dead EF1 Lowndes County EF1 Perry County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 374379. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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