EF1 tornado in Choctaw County, Alabama

Tornado March 25, 2021 · Choctaw County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

9.6 mi

Whole path

100 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Choctaw County → Marengo County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado first touched down just west of the Tombigbee River

and just south of Highway 10 in far eastern Choctaw county, AL. The tornado

intensified rapidly upon touchdown and heavily damaged a single family home.

The home was shifted nearly 6 feet off of the foundation. In addition, a

large section of the roof was removed and a small shed adjacent

to the home was destroyed. A few large trees were also uprooted and a power

pole in front of the home was snapped. This tornado continued east across

the river into Marengo county, AL, which is covered by the National Weather

Service office in Birmingham, AL.

The wider storm

Another in a series of powerful storm systems moved across the region during the day and through the evening. A very unstable airmass developed across the area. This system produced a tornado outbreak just north of the area, however one tornado developed in Choctaw and caused damage.

Began near Lavaca (32.1238, -88.0445).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 949242. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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