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EF2 tornado in Dallas County, Alabama

Tornado February 17, 2008 · Dallas County, Alabama

EF2
Rating
7.6 mi
Path length
400 yd
Path width
$350K
Damage as recorded
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

The tornado touched down near Warrior Drive, just southeast of the Perry County line. It then tracked northeastward across AL-219 near the intersection of CR-230, moved right through the Summerfield Community, and crossed CR-37, before lifting just east of the intersection of CR-37 and CR-844. At least 5 structures, including 2 mobile homes and a metal warehouse, were destroyed. Twelve to fifteen additional structures, including several homes and an auto body shop, were damaged to varying degrees. Hundreds of trees were either snapped off or uprooted along the damage path.

The wider storm

A broken squall line, sparked by an advancing cold front and strong upper level storm, caused severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across Central Alabama.

Began near Potter (32.4873, -87.1105).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Autauga CountyEF2 Lowndes CountyEF2 Russell CountyEF1 Randolph CountyEF1 Chilton CountyEF1 Pike CountyEF1 Coosa CountyEF1 Barbour CountyEF1 Barbour CountyEF0 Barbour CountyEF0 Clay County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 85100. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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