EF1 tornado in Marshall County, Alabama

Tornado April 12, 2020 · Marshall County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

5.0 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 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 in far northeast Blount County and crossed the Marshall County line about one mile west-southwest of Meadowbrook Drive. The tornado tracked approximately three miles crossing Alabama Highway 79 South, where dozens of trees were uprooted and a couple of homes sustained minor roof damage. The tornado continued to the east-northeast uprooting several more trees before lifting along Foster Road.

The wider storm

Heavy rainfall occurred across the entire NWS Huntsville County Warning area, as well as damage from thunderstorm winds and a few tornadoes.

While heavy rainfall reports were spread out across the CWFA, the most significant flash flooding occurred in Fort Payne and surrounding areas in Northeast Alabama.

Intense rainfall of 6-6.5 inches fell in DeKalb County along Big Wills Creek.

A new Flood of Record crest of 17.94 feet occurred, surpassing the old Flood of Record (14.36) by a whopping 3.5 feet! More than 50 roads were shut down, with extensive flooding that occurred on Hwy 35 leading up to the Hwy 35/I459 interchange.

Began near Red Hill (34.2253, -86.4253).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Cullman County EF2 Marshall County EF1 Cullman County EF1 Cullman County EF1 Dekalb County EF0 Dekalb County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 886293. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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