EF1 tornado in Shelby County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southeast Shelby County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 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 into Shelby County from Bibb County near the intersection of County Road 201 and 128. The tornado moved into the city of Calera, uprooting trees and blowing over an unanchored mobile home along County Road 67. The tornado then crossed Interstate 65 and moved into a large neighborhood along and northeast of Timberline Drive. The majority of structural damage was confined to loss of shingle and siding. However, at least 3 homes had portions of their roofs removed, 2 of them with significant loss. Next, mostly rural areas were hit between the cities of Columbiana and Calera, south of Highway 70. The last area of notable damage was in Columbiana. Numerous trees were uprooted from Mooney Road to Mardis Ferry Road and numerous homes were heavily damaged by fallen trees. Several mobile homes were impacted near the intersection of Alston Farm Road and Mardis Ferry Road. Most sustained roofing damage or were crushed by fallen trees. One unanchored mobile home was destroyed with 2 injuries that required hospitalization. Other structures were damaged along the path as well. The tornado then quickly weakened, and dissipated as it approached Highway 25 after crossing County Road 7.

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.