EF2 Tornado — Bibb, Alabama

2021-03-25 · near Lucille, Bibb, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northeast Bibb County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 115 mph.

This tornado touched down formed along Highway 24 west of Highway 5. The tornado tracked northeast, crossing Highway 5 northwest of the community of West Blocton, causing tree and shingle damage. The tornado strengthened to EF2 intensity as it continued northeastward into a wooded area where numerous trees were snapped. The tornado weakened as it crossed into Shelby County south of Shelby County Highway 13, continuing to uproot trees.

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system affected Central Alabama on Thursday, March 25th. A highly-sheared environment combined with increasing instability produced numerous tornadic thunderstorms. Severe parameters were supportive of significant and long-track supercells, prompting the issuance of a rare High Risk Convective Outlook from the Storm Prediction Center for portions of Central Alabama.

A total of 10 tornado tracks were surveyed in Central Alabama. This included 4 EF3 tornadoes, 3 EF2 tornadoes, and 3 EF1 tornadoes. Damage was significant along the paths of the most intense tornadoes and, unfortunately, injuries and fatalities occurred.

Some storms were cyclic, meaning multiple tornadoes were produced by the same storm. The most impressive tornado of the event was the long-track tornado that traveled nearly 80 miles from Hale County to Shelby County. This ranked as the seventh longest single tornado track in the state of Alabama.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1157, -87.1707)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 946866. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.