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EF1 tornado in Pike County, Alabama

Tornado February 17, 2008 · Pike County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
8.4 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
$60K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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

This tornado was already on the ground when it entered Pike County from Coffee County, about 5 miles southeast of Henderson. The tornado moved northeast, crossing AL-87 and AL-167, before lifting north of the intersection of CR-6 and CR-57. In Pike County, one home and one church were damaged, and a greenhouse had its windows blown out. Numerous trees were either snapped off or were uprooted along the 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 Baltic (31.6190, -86.0116).

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 CountyEF2 Dallas CountyEF1 Randolph CountyEF1 Chilton CountyEF1 Coosa CountyEF1 Barbour CountyEF1 Barbour CountyEF0 Barbour CountyEF0 Clay County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 85103. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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