Event narrative (NOAA)
National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in eastern northeast Hale County and determined that it was consistent with an EF3 tornado, with maximum winds near 140 mph.||The tornado initially began in a heavily wooded area northeast of Gabriel Creek Rd and tracked northeast. Radar imagery suggests the tornado quickly intensified. Farther downstream, significant timber damage was observed on County Rd 50, as well as National Forest Rd 706. This timber damage was quite impressive and very wide at many points with both hardwood and softwood trees snapped and uprooted. The magnitude of timber damage suggested winds of 140 mph. The tornado continued northeast causing further damage to a large swath of the Talladega National Forest in far northeast Hale County. The tornado crossed i
Other notable tornado events in Alabama
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.