EF1 tornado in Jefferson County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in eastern Jefferson County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 90 mph.

A tornado touched down near the intersection of 8th Ave South and 85th Street South in the South Eastlake and South Highlands neighborhoods of Birmingham. It traveled northeast into the South Roebuck neighborhood uprooting numerous trees. It made a jog eastward as it crossed the northern end of Ruffner mountain, continuing to uproot and snap numerous trees as it traveled between Highway 11 and Interstate 59 in the Roebuck Plaza neighborhood. The tornado crossed Interstate 459 and dissipated as it reached the Jefferson Memorial Gardens on the southwest side of Trussville. Around forty-two homes were damaged, almost all by uprooted trees.

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.