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EF1 tornado in Washington County, Alabama

Tornado March 3, 2019 · Washington County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

0.2 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

$10K

Damage as recorded

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 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

The tornado touched down just west of Highway 17, 3 miles south of Chatom. The tornado crossed Highway 17 and continued east into a more forested areas. The path length is an estimate as a final end point could not be determined due to the lack of road access. The tornado produced EF-1 damage to both softwood and hardwood, some of which were snapped.

The wider storm

A cold front moved into the southeast during day. This front moved into a warm and unstable airmass, causing severe thunderstorms to develop. The storms produced 4 tornadoes in southwest Alabama.

Began near Tibbie (31.4188, -88.2566).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Washington County EF1 Butler County EF1 Crenshaw County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 813537. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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