TornadoLookup

Home / Alabama / Sumter

EF1 tornado in Sumter County, Alabama

Tornado January 3, 2015 · Sumter County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
1.2 mi
Path length
200 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in Sumter County and confirmed a tornado. The tornado touched down along State Highway 116 between Old Bodka Road and State Highway 17. The tornado traveled northeast and lifted near Old Bodka Road and Bodka Creek. The most concentrated damage was near Old Bodka Road where hundreds of trees were snapped off or uprooted.

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 Bodka (32.8062, -88.2937).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Greene CountyEF0 Sumter CountyEF0 Greene CountyEF0 Marion County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 556257. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.