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This Week in 2021: Deep South Tornado Outbreak
March 24, 2022 at 07:59 PM EDT
By WeatherBug's Ali Husain
One year ago today marked the beginning of a tornado outbreak in the South that caused billions of dollars of damage, not too different from the recent rash of weather that broke out across the South this past week.
From March 24 to 28, a tornado outbreak raked through the Mid-South and Southeast, bringing damaging winds, hail and many tornadoes to eleven different states over the course of four days.
In the days preceding the outbreak, a frontal boundary became stuck across the Deep South and western Gulf Coast. This would provide the perfect avenue for storm development, as a pair of low pressure systems would march eastward from the southern Rockies to the Eastern Seaboard between March 24 and 28. The pattern finally relented late on the 28th.
The first round of storms occurred in Texas on the 24th, as several supercells formed in central and northeastern Texas that day, spawning two tornadoes. This was only the start of the outbreak as it marched toward the Deep South.
In advance of the storms’ formation, the Storm Prediction Center recognized the potential risk for severe weather, noting a top-of-the-scale High Risk across parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. The forecast was accurate, as a supercell formed over central Alabama, spawning three EF-3 tornadoes, one of which killed six people near Ohatchee, Ala. Several more tornadoes formed from supercells over Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina throughout the day, with activity continuing into the early hours of March 26th. Shortly after midnight, a tornado emergency was issued for Newnan and Peach Tree, Ga., as a result of a violent EF-4 tornado.
As if one round of tornadoes wasn't enough, Mother Nature had a fresh burst of activity prepared to sweep across the South starting on March 27. Risks on the 27th blanketed the Ark-La-Tex to the Tennessee Valley. Severe storms that day spawned a total of 19 tornadoes and widespread reports of wind and hail damage. Six of the tornadoes drew an EF-2 rating, one of which caused a fatality east of Carthage, Texas.
March 28 saw a large part of the Southeastern U.S. under threats from severe weather. Despite multiple tornado warnings issued that afternoon, only one tornado touched down on the 28th: an EF-1 twister in Alabama. Widespread wind damage occurred from Georgia to Pennsylvania, including in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Delaware Valley. The severe weather threat expired on the night of the 28th as the storms finally pushed into the Atlantic Ocean.
All in all, the late-March tornado outbreak of 2021 lasted for more than four days, spawned 43 confirmed tornadoes, and caused 8 tornado-related deaths, with six more reported from severe, but non-tornadic events. The strongest tornado was the Franklin-Newman-Peachtree City, Ga., tornado which was rated as a low-end EF-4. In total, $3.2 billion dollars' worth of damage was done to the Southeastern and Northeastern U.S. over the course of the outbreak.
Source(s): NWS, Wikipedia, The Washington Post
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Story Image: Trees heavily debarked and stripped out branches in a field strewed with debris south of Sawyerville, Alabama (NWS Birmingham).
From March 24 to 28, a tornado outbreak raked through the Mid-South and Southeast, bringing damaging winds, hail and many tornadoes to eleven different states over the course of four days.
In the days preceding the outbreak, a frontal boundary became stuck across the Deep South and western Gulf Coast. This would provide the perfect avenue for storm development, as a pair of low pressure systems would march eastward from the southern Rockies to the Eastern Seaboard between March 24 and 28. The pattern finally relented late on the 28th.
The first round of storms occurred in Texas on the 24th, as several supercells formed in central and northeastern Texas that day, spawning two tornadoes. This was only the start of the outbreak as it marched toward the Deep South.
In advance of the storms’ formation, the Storm Prediction Center recognized the potential risk for severe weather, noting a top-of-the-scale High Risk across parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. The forecast was accurate, as a supercell formed over central Alabama, spawning three EF-3 tornadoes, one of which killed six people near Ohatchee, Ala. Several more tornadoes formed from supercells over Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina throughout the day, with activity continuing into the early hours of March 26th. Shortly after midnight, a tornado emergency was issued for Newnan and Peach Tree, Ga., as a result of a violent EF-4 tornado.
As if one round of tornadoes wasn't enough, Mother Nature had a fresh burst of activity prepared to sweep across the South starting on March 27. Risks on the 27th blanketed the Ark-La-Tex to the Tennessee Valley. Severe storms that day spawned a total of 19 tornadoes and widespread reports of wind and hail damage. Six of the tornadoes drew an EF-2 rating, one of which caused a fatality east of Carthage, Texas.
March 28 saw a large part of the Southeastern U.S. under threats from severe weather. Despite multiple tornado warnings issued that afternoon, only one tornado touched down on the 28th: an EF-1 twister in Alabama. Widespread wind damage occurred from Georgia to Pennsylvania, including in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Delaware Valley. The severe weather threat expired on the night of the 28th as the storms finally pushed into the Atlantic Ocean.
All in all, the late-March tornado outbreak of 2021 lasted for more than four days, spawned 43 confirmed tornadoes, and caused 8 tornado-related deaths, with six more reported from severe, but non-tornadic events. The strongest tornado was the Franklin-Newman-Peachtree City, Ga., tornado which was rated as a low-end EF-4. In total, $3.2 billion dollars' worth of damage was done to the Southeastern and Northeastern U.S. over the course of the outbreak.
Source(s): NWS, Wikipedia, The Washington Post
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Story Image: Trees heavily debarked and stripped out branches in a field strewed with debris south of Sawyerville, Alabama (NWS Birmingham).