The top of the scale is rare. Of 2,772 tornadoes recorded in Alabama since 1950, 8 reached F5 or EF5, the top of the damage scale. They came on just 5 days: March 3, 1966, April 3, 1974, April 4, 1977, April 8, 1998 and April 27, 2011. Together they killed 224 people in Alabama.
2 of the 8 were rated on the Enhanced Fujita scale, used since February 2007; the rest are on the original Fujita scale. The most recent was the Rainsville tornado on April 27, 2011. Alabama has also had 35 F4 and EF4 tornadoes, one step below.
All of them, oldest first
- 6:30 PM
Candlestick Park tornado
Tuscaloosa 20 houses and 6 barns were destroyed. 20 homes and 15 barns were damaged. Crop losses were mainly to timber. This tornado was part of the Candlestick Park family of tornadoes. Many think this was more than one tornado.
8 years later
5:15 PMFirst Tanner tornado
Harvest 14 people were killed near the Mt Moriah community as many tried fleeing the tornado. The tornado swept away home after home killing 14 more people just west of Moulton. Total devastation occurred along the path.
- 6:35 PM
Second Tanner tornado
At least 19 people were injured in one home. 16 of the fatalities occurred in Alabama. This tornado path was separated by only one half of a mile from the tornado that moved through earlier. Over 1000 buildings were destroyed by both tornadoes.
- 7:50 PM
Guin tornado
An estimated 23 people were killed and 250 were injured in Guin as this damage was possibly the most intense to ever hit Alabama. 5 were killed in Delmar. Along the path, 546 buildings were destroyed, 330 were heavily damaged.
3 years later
3:00 PMSmithfield tornado
The powerful tornado touched down about 4 miles NW of downtown Birmingham. It moved NE at 60 mph finally lifting just E to the city of Tarrant. At its widest point it was 3/4 of a mile. 167 homes were destroyed and 48 had major damage.
21 years later
6:42 PMOak Grove tornado
Tremendous damage along the path.
13 years later
2:05 PMHackleburg–Phil Campbell tornado
A tornado initially touched down west of Hamilton in southwest Marion County and moved northeast where it caused devastating damage to the city of Hackleburg. The tornado continued into Franklin County and tracked through Lawrence, Morgan, Limestone, and Madison Counties in Alabama.
3 hours later
5:19 PMRainsville tornado
A violent long track tornado began in the Lakeview community northeast of Geraldine before tracking northeastward, generally parallel to and just east of State Route 75.