F3 tornado — Elmore County, Alabama

F3 tornado in Elmore County, Alabama

Tornado March 18, 1996 · Elmore County, Alabama

Rating

10.0 mi

Path length

440 yd

Path width

$700K

Damage as recorded

$50K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

A tornado began on the northeast side of Eclectic and extended for 10 miles in Elmore County crossing the Elmore-Tallapoosa county line just east of Highway 63. The tornado continued for another 14 miles in Tallapoosa County crossing Lake Martin and ending on the north side of Jacksons Gap not far from where a tornado had occurred earlier in the evening. This was classified as an F3 tornado with a total damage path of 24 miles with a width of a quarter of a mile at the widest.Numerous buildings of all types were damaged along the track. Some of the most intense damage occurred as the tornado emerged from crossing Lake Martin in the Peckerwood area just southwest of Jacksons Gap. Numerous permanent homes and mobile homes were seriously damaged or destroyed.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5547170. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Elmore County, Alabama

The wider storm

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Tornadoes near your address