EF1 tornado in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Tornado March 17, 2021 · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

5.8 mi

Whole path

650 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 650 yards (0.37 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

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northeastern Tuscaloosa County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. A tornado touched down in rural Tuscaloosa county with numerous hardwood and softwood trees were snapped or uprooted. Damage began along Burchfield Road where the most intense damage was observed. The tornado moved through mostly inaccessible areas, crossing Cane Creek, Davis Creek, and Rockhouse Creek before crossing into Jefferson County near Ethridge Road.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Kellerman (33.3360, -87.3097).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 944958. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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