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EF1 tornado in Madison County, Alabama

Tornado April 28, 2014 · Madison County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
8.9 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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 touched down along Charity Lane between Stafford and Butter-and-Egg Roads. It tracked almost directly eastward along Charity Lane, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees and causing minor roof damage to multiple houses. At Charity Baptist Church, the tornado uprooted a very large oak tree believed to be around 150 years old. It began tracking more to the northeast as it reached Frank Patterson Road, continuing to snap many more trees in the Hazel Trace and Hazelwood Drive area. It crossed Highway 231/431, collapsing a carport near Carriger road. The tornado continued to snap and uproot many more trees along Mulberry Road, Bevills Church Road, Greenville Pike, and Everett Jones Road. The tornado dissipated just east of Everett Jones Road, just south of Borderline Road and the Tennessee State Line.

The wider storm

A tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and evening across the central Tennessee Valley on the 28th. Several cyclic supercells produced tornadoes, some of which were strong. Very heavy rainfall occurred in some areas as well. In particular, up to 5 inches fell in just a few hours which led to severe flash flooding in Valley Head.

An additional round of thunderstorms late in the day/evening of the 29th produced a few reports of damaging winds and hail.

Began near New Sharon (34.9476, -86.6465).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 505291. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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