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EF0 tornado in Fayette County, Alabama

Tornado April 12, 2020 · Fayette County, Alabama

EF0
Rating
5.5 mi
Whole path
265 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 265 yards (0.15 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in far southern Fayette County and determined that it was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum winds near 75 mph. This tornado is a continuation from Pickens County and dissipated near County Road 12 shortly after entering Fayette County.

The wider storm

An upper-level low over the southwest United States evolved into a negatively-tilted shortwave trough as it moved over the southeastern United States. A warm front steadily moved northward during the morning and afternoon hours on Sunday, April 12. This allowed an unstable air mass to move northward and overspread much of the region. At the same time, very strong wind shear developed over Alabama as the upper trough neared the state.

An initial wave of severe storms affected areas near and north of Interstate 20, involving tornadoes, damaging straight-line winds, and some hail. Through the evening, a second wave of thunderstorms affected the remaining areas of Central Alabama with tornadoes and damaging straight-line winds. Flooding also resulted from training rainfall near and north of Interstate 20. Some roads became impassible or were washed out. This weather event was large in scope and produced severe weather from Oklahoma and Texas, through the southeastern United States, then up the east coast to New York.

Began near Newtonville (33.5254, -87.8602).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 887481. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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