EF2 tornado in Dallas County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northeastern Dallas County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 115 mph. The tornado first touched down near Water Avenue just south of State Road 14, initially producing minor tree damage. The tornado quickly intensified snapping and uprooting large stands of hardwood trees as it moved into the Burnsville community. Near State Road 14 and County Road 871, a well built home sustained structural damage including the loss of a carport, roof damage, broken windows, and partial loss of one wall structure. An unanchored manufactured home next door was completely destroyed with the remaining contents blown across the road and scattered over 100 yards. A vehicle at this residence was rolled and sustained damage. The tornado continued to move rather slowly off to the northeast causing additional trees to fall. Several additional homes along the path sustained structural damage of mainly roof uplift and loss of shingles. Another manufactured home with some anchoring was rolled and blown apart on the north side of State Road 14. There were two occupants inside the home who were sheltering. They survived and crawled out with minor injuries. Farther northeast along State Road 14, a two story home sustained structural damage along with additional damage from falling trees. They were very large hardwood trees snapped near the base. A motorist trying to evade the tornado attempted to take shelter here and narrowly missed a large falling tree. At this point the tornado was likely at its widest reaching nearly 1000 yards. The tornado crossed State Road 14 moving into a mostly forested area producing significant tree damage before crossing County Road 261. Here a wide swath of trees and power lines were downed. The tornado finally weakened and lifted before reaching County Road 880.

An active southern jet stream set-up across the southern United States during the middle of March. Several short-wave troughs became negatively tilted as each one traversed across Texas and towards Alabama. This resulted in a single hail event one Monday, March 15, and significant tornado outbreak on Wednesday, March 17. Many supercells began to develop across Central Alabama by midday Wednesday and continued into the evening hours before a squall line moved through the state. Sufficient instability and strong wind shear produced conditions favorable for tornadoes to develop. The event consisted of twenty-one tornadoes in the NWS Birmingham forecast area.