EF0 tornado in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Tornado January 3, 2015 · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

EF0

Rating

1.3 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Greene County → Tuscaloosa County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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 Tuscaloosa County and confirmed a weak tornado. The tornado entered Tuscaloosa County from Greene County about one-quarter of a mile south of Homestead Road. Two homes suffered roof damage and several outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. The tornado lifted just north of Romulus 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 Ralph (33.1277, -87.8384).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Sumter County EF1 Greene County EF0 Sumter County EF0 Marion County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 556263. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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