EF1 Tornado — Chilton, Alabama

2021-03-25 · near Wessington, Chilton, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northwest Chilton County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 88 mph.

A strong, long-track tornado traveled across Hale, Perry, Bibb, Chilton, and Shelby Counties during the afternoon of March 25, 2021. It is estimated that the tornado had a 98 minute life span, with a path length of 80 miles. The tornado crossed from Bibb County and into northwest Chilton County just south of County Road 108. The tornado traveled northeast crossing County Road 73 and Highway 155 where numerous tress were uprooted and snapped. The tornado crossed into Shelby County near the intersection of County Road 201 and 128.

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 → (33.0270, -86.8770)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 948222. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.