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EF2 tornado in Pickens County, Alabama

Tornado August 31, 2017 · Pickens County, Alabama

EF2
Rating
31.2 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width
6
Injuries

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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

NWS meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Pickens County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF2 tornado. The tornado touched down at 7th Ave SW in the town of Reform. The tornado tracked northeast crossing Highway 82 and into residential areas where the worst damage occurred. Several single family wood framed homes and a mobile home were destroyed. One wood framed home was completely swept off its foundation. Several vehicles were also overturned. Four people, including an infant, were in the house that was swept off its foundation. They only suffered minor injuries. The tornado continued northeast and crossed near the intersection of County Road 25 and 15th Ave NW where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. It then crossed Highway 17 about one mile south of County Road 8 where several trees were snapped and a house lost part of its roof. The tornado paralleled Highway 17 for several miles and did extensive tree and power line damage in the community of Palmetto. A fire station was also heavily damaged in Palmetto. From Palmetto, it traveled along County Road 59 where is snapped and uprooted trees, then it crossed into extreme southeast Lamar County.

The wider storm

The remnants of Hurricane Harvey tracked northeast across Louisiana and along the Mississippi River. Feeder bands on the east side of Harvey produced four tornadoes across central Alabama.

Began near Reform (33.3793, -88.0344).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 719412. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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