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EF1 tornado in Winston County, Alabama

Tornado November 29, 2016 · Winston County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
3.6 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Winston County → Winston 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 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 northwest Winston County near Forkville and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated near 105 mph.

The tornado touched down about 5 miles east northeast of Haleyville. At initial touch down along Chicken Foot Road, there were a few trees that were blown down and minor damage to a garage roof. The tornado continued northeastward where it snapped several power poles, one home suffered roof damage, and some garage doors were blown in. A metal pole and rafter barn was destroyed and the debris was scattered across a field. Toward the end of the path, several tree trunks were snapped off.

The wider storm

A warm front moved northward during the day on Tuesday, November 29th, and surface temperatures climbed into the 70s across north Alabama. Low level shear and storm relative helicity increased over west Alabama Tuesday evening and discrete supercells developed over west Alabama.

Began near Forkville (34.2498, -87.5383).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Winston CountyEF1 Pickens CountyEF1 Winston CountyEF1 Lamar CountyEF1 Marion CountyEF1 Marengo CountyEF1 Lee CountyEF0 Marion CountyEF0 Fayette County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 668075. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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