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EF1 tornado in Sumter County, Alabama

Tornado April 28, 2014 · Sumter County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
1.0 mi
Path length
150 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 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 short-lived tornado, with winds of 100 mph, touched down in a wooded area near W.L. Ezell Road in the Siloam Community. The tornado traveled to the northeast, crossing Alabama Highway 17 and dissipated south of U.S. Highway 80. Along W.L. Ezell Road and County Road 9, two well-built homes received significant roof and other structural damage. Nine other homes received roof damage, and several outbuildings were destroyed. A convenience store received significant damage to the roof and primary structure, and the fuel awning was destroyed. Additionally, a local fire station received significant damage to one of its buildings and minor damage to another. Along the path numerous trees were snapped and uprooted.

The wider storm

A large scale severe weather event began Saturday, April 26 and ended Wednesday, April 30th, producing several waves of severe weather from the Central Plains eastward through the Deep South, and across a significant portion of the eastern United States. Strong and violent tornadoes, very large hail, flash flooding, and damaging straight line winds accompanied this dynamic storm system. The most tornadoes occurred across the Deep South as the system moved into Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, April 28th. Supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon over eastern Mississippi and northwest Alabama in the warm sector well ahead of a cold front. The activity slowly spread east and southeast overnight, with this wave of severe storms ending early Tuesday morning. Storms redeveloped late Tuesday afternoon and moved into Central Alabama. A large area of rainfall across the northern Gulf Coast limited the amount of instability across the area, and storms remained below severe limits. The last wave of severe weather occurred early Wednesday morning across the south as an isolated storm produced large hail, as the system finally pulled east of the area.

Began near Siloam (32.4208, -88.2710).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 522921. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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