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EF0 tornado in Sumter County, Alabama

Tornado January 3, 2015 · Sumter County, Alabama

EF0
Rating
0.7 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 EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

National Weather Service Meteorologists surveyed damage in Sumter County and confirmed a weak tornado. The tornado touched down just west of Pretty Branch Road along the Norfolk Southern Railroad, about 0.5 miles east of Cuba. The tornado tracked northeast downing several large hardwoods and caused damage to the roof and anchoring system of a manufactured home as it crossed Pretty Branch Road and the railroad track. The tornado moved parallel to the railroad track downing approximately one dozen trees. The tornado lifted just west of Old Livingston Road.

The wider storm

A surface low tracked northeast across northern Mississippi and northwest Alabama Saturday afternoon and evening. An upper level disturbance moving out of the southwest United States providing ample lift and shear increased as the surface low deepened. The frontal system progressed slowly eastward, and this allowed for widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches.

Began near Cuba (32.4312, -88.3707).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Sumter CountyEF1 Greene CountyEF0 Greene CountyEF0 Marion County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 556256. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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