52
Recorded events
11
Direct deaths
151
Direct injuries
$36.9M
Property damage
Tornado in Shelby County, Alabama: 52 recorded events between 1957 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F4. That places the county #352 nationally and #19 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Shelby County, Alabama: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Shelby County is the 2010s, when 13 of the county's 52 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Shelby County archive, tornado makes up 7.0% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #352 for this hazard and #19 within Alabama, putting it in the 88.1 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Apr is the peak month for tornado in Shelby County with 15 recorded events, while Jul is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964-01-24 | EF4 | 3.3 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 1973-05-27 | EF4 | 139.1 mi | 800 yd | Crossed in |
| 2022-03-30 | EF3 | 29.2 mi | 1,200 yd | Crossed in |
| 2021-03-25 | EF3 | 79.7 mi | 2,300 yd | Crossed in |
| 2021-03-25 | EF3 | 50.1 mi | 1,140 yd | Crossed in |
| 2020-02-06 | EF2 | 9.9 mi | 700 yd | Touched down here |
| 1994-03-27 | EF2 | 12.0 mi | 300 yd | Touched down here |
| 1973-03-16 | EF2 | 4.3 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1968-12-27 | EF2 | 5.6 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
| 1963-04-29 | EF2 | 0.1 mi | 10 yd | Touched down here |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 25, 1964 | F4 | 10 | 6 | $250K | |
| May 28, 1973 | F4 | 1 | 63 | $25.0M | |
| Mar 27, 1994 | F2 | 0 | 53 | $5.0M | |
| Jan 10, 1975 | F1 | 0 | 14 | $250K | |
| Mar 25, 2021 | BOOTHTON | EF3 | 0 | 5 | $0 |
| Mar 16, 1973 | F2 | 0 | 5 | $250K | |
| Mar 25, 2021 | ROBERTA | EF1 | 0 | 2 | $0 |
| Dec 28, 1968 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $250K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 16, 2025 | SOUTH NEWALA | EF1 | $0 |
| Mar 16, 2025 | SOUTH CALERA | EF1 | $0 |
| Dec 29, 2024 | HARPERSVILLE | EF1 | $0 |
| Mar 31, 2022 | NELSON | EF1 | $0 |
| Mar 31, 2022 | WILTON | EF1 | $0 |
| Mar 23, 2022 | BOOTHTON | EF0 | $0 |
| Feb 18, 2022 | QUITO | EF1 | $0 |
| Dec 30, 2021 | SHELBY | EF0 | $0 |
| Mar 25, 2021 | ROBERTA | EF1 | $0 |
| Mar 25, 2021 | BOOTHTON | EF3 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Shelby County
- Thunderstorm Wind 398
- Hail 196
- Flash Flood 70
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado began on the north side of Helena on the Bearden Farm moving northeastward crossing Alabama 261 near Pelham High School. The school suffered some damage. Continuing northeast, the tornado caused damage in a residential section before doing extensive damage to two mobile home parks on the west side of U.S. Highway 31 on the north side of Pelham. The tornado did extensive to businesses in the stretch from the U.S. 31/Alabama 119 intersection to the Alabama 119/Interstate 65 intersection. The tornado continued on its track going through primarily residential areas of Pelham and Indian Springs. The tornado dissipated just before reaching the Meadow Brook area about two miles west of U.S. Highway 280. Areas in the path of the tornado included sections of Chandalar, Green Park South mobile home park, South Gate Mobile Home Park, Indian Springs Village, Broken Bow, Broken Bow South, and Riverchase.
A tornado developed along a Quasi-Linear Convective System. It touched down in far northern Shelby County, less than one mile west of the intersection of Valleydale Road and Caldwell Mill Road, and tracked northeastward into southern Jefferson County. The tornado produced damage consistent with an EF1 rating and winds of 100 mph. Numerous trees were knocked down, causing damage to homes, apartment buildings, vehicles and power lines. The tornado crossed into Jefferson County just east of the intersection of Caldwell Mill Rd and Pahokee Trace.
The tornado first touched down on Fox Valley Road in the Maylene community, where it tossed trampolines and snapped at few small trees. It then traveled northeast, crossing CR-17 just south of the intersection of 1st Ave W. It then struck Fox Valley Apartments and moved into the Stoney Meadow Subdivision, where several homes received minor to substantial roof damage. The most significant damage occurred on Rock View Trail, where siding was stripped off of one home and another home received significant roof damage and had the garage door blown out. Two mature cedar trees were also snapped at this location. The tornado weakened rapidly and continued to produce minor damage as it crossed through the Navajo Trail Subdivision. The last bits of minor roof and fence damage were in the Greenfield Subdivision off of Industrial Park Drive in Alabaster. In total, at least 20 structures were damaged, and dozens of trees were snapped or uprooted.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Shelby County, Alabama?
52 tornado events are recorded in Shelby County between 1957 and 2025, causing 11 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Shelby County?
The strongest tornado on record in Shelby County measured F4.
Where does the tornado data for Shelby County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in Shelby County, Alabama.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/alabama/shelby-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.