EF2 tornado in Marengo County, Alabama

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

The tornado crossed the Tombigbee River from Choctaw County just south of Highway 10. It produced significant damage on South Riverview Lane, just south of Alabama Highway 10. In this area, an older single wide mobile home was destroyed with the frame tossed at least 50 yards to the east. In addition, a large storage building was also destroyed. Significant tree damage was noted in the area with several hardwood and softwoods snapped and uprooted. In this area, the tornado is estimated to have been at low end EF2 intensity with winds around 115 mph. The tornado continued northeast and crossed Highway 10, producing substantial tree damage and also heavily damaging one barn and destroying another. The tornado continued to produce substantial tree damage as it crossed Highway 69. As the tornado moved east of Highway 69, the road network did not allow the survey team to assess the damage over a large forested area. However, damage was noted along Highway 17, north of Beaver Creek Road. It is not known how much farther to the northeast the tornado continued due to no road access, but the tornado did not reach Highway 43.

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.