EF2 Tornado — Randolph, Alabama

2021-03-25 · near Almond, Randolph, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southwest Randolph County and determined that it was consistent with an EF2 tornado, with maximum winds near 125 mph.

This tornado originated in Clay County and crossed into Randolph County just south of Bald Rock Road. All along CR 836, swaths of hardwood trees were either uprooted or snapped. The tornado widened as it approached CR 77. Here the tornado carved a wide path over mainly forested areas with some damage to barns and agricultural buildings. A chicken house on CR 845 was completely destroyed.

Substantial damage was noted in the Corinth community in southwest Randolph county. Along CR 43, a row of homes had minor to moderate damage. Many homes in this area sustained complete loss of roof structure and blown out windows. The Corinth Fire Department was also damaged in this area.

The tornado continued to travel northeast, snapping trees and powerlines along CR 33 and CR 26. Homes in this area also received damage, mostly to roof structures. Homes were damaged along CR 65 just west of US Highway 431. Once the tornado crossed Highway 431, it produced extensive damage to homes and structures along CR 61 and CR 700. Several homes had their roofs removed and trees were snapped near the base. Farther east near CR 59, a 100 year old log cabin was mostly destroyed with only a couple of walls left standing. Tree damage in this area was also extensive.

Additional trees and power lines continued to be snapped along CR 16 and CR 87. A large farm building was destroyed near CR 701 and several chicken houses were also destroyed in this area. The tornado weakened notably east of CR 87 before lifting near CR 296 just west of the Georgia state line.

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 → (33.1360, -85.6540)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 948240. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.