EF1 tornado in Marengo County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southwest Marengo County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. This long track tornado began in the NWS Mobile forecast area and traveled almost 35 miles through Wayne, Choctaw, and Clarke Counties as an EF-2 tornado. It weakened to an EF-1 tornado as it crossed into Marengo County. It continued to snap and uproot numerous trees as it crossed Highway 69. The tornado dissipated in a wooded area northeast of Highway 69.

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.