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EF1 tornado in Houston County, Alabama

Tornado April 19, 2020 · Houston County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

0.7 mi

Path length

50 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 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

A tornado touched down in northwest Houston County on Bob Hall Road, just south of Ariel Lane. Here it damaged the roof of a home and tore a portion of the roof off of a storage facility. It tracked southeast and damaged the roof of approximately eight

homes in a neighborhood along Nottingham Way. The tornado continued to the southeast and downed trees along Harrington Lane where it quickly lifted.

The wider storm

A potent upper trough moved across the southeast states with numerous severe storms, including widespread wind damage and tornadoes. The tri-state area was under an enhanced to moderate risk of severe storms from the Storm Prediction Center. Some of the tornadoes were significant and rated EF2. Unfortunately, one fatality occurred in southeast Alabama.

Began near Green Acres (31.2100, -85.4600).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Henry County 1 dead EF0 Coffee County EF0 Geneva County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 890575. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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