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EF2 tornado in Clarke County, Alabama

Tornado March 17, 2021 · Clarke County, Alabama

EF2
Rating
36.6 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
2
Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Wayne County, Mississippi → Choctaw County → Clarke County → Marengo County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The tornado started on Sunlight Church Road in Wayne County, MS just west of the Choctaw County line. The tornado moved into extreme southwest Choctaw County and produced high end EF-1 intensity damage on CR 2 where several chicken houses were heavily damaged and numerous softwood and hardwood trees were downed or snapped. The tornado lost intensity as it headed northeast toward Silas, but still produced pockets of EF-1 damage especially in the Silas area, near Silas Branch. The tornado continued northeast and produced spotty, mainly light tree damage north of Highway 84 and toward Womack Hill. However, the tornado quickly strengthened and widened as it approached the Tombigbee River and crossed into northwest Clarke County. The tornado produced significant and extensive damage to large swaths of trees from the Trotter Road area right along the river, northeast to Campbell's landing road and to near the Marengo County line. Based on aerial footage of the extensive tree damage, the tornado was given an EF-2 intensity rating. A few river camp houses suffered roof damage. An older home on Campbell's Landing Road was heavily damaged and two people in the home suffered minor injuries. Adjacent modular homes suffered minor damage.

The wider storm

A strong cold front moved through the southeast states, triggering a severe weather outbreak that produced several tornadoes along with numerous reports of large hail and damaging winds.

Began near West Bend (31.8840, -88.1350).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 947197. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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