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EF2 tornado in Escambia County, Alabama

Tornado February 15, 2016 · Escambia County, Alabama

EF2

Rating

16.4 mi

Whole path

300 yd

Path width

Injuries

$5.8M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This tornado was produced from an isolated supercell thunderstorm. The tornado moved northeast out of Escambia County Florida and into Escambia County AL just east of Flomaton. EF-2 intensity damage was surveyed on Old Fannie Road. The tornado continued northeast toward Pollard where it weakened and lifted. Extensive tree damage was noted with numerous softwood and hardwood trees either uprooted or snapped. Several power poles were also snapped.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms developed across southwest and south central Alabama during the afternoon and evening of February 15th as a strong upper level disturbance moved from the southern Plains to the Tennessee Valley. The severe storms developed along and ahead of the trailing cold front, producing both tornadoes and straight line wind damage.

Began near Wahl (30.9968, -87.2281).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Conecuh County EF1 Covington County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 620079. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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