59
Recorded events
26
Direct deaths
279
Direct injuries
$171.2M
Property damage
Tornado in Walker County, Alabama: 59 recorded events between 1953 and 2025. The strongest on record measured F4. That places the county #257 nationally and #13 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in Walker County, Alabama: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in Walker County is the 2000s, when 20 of the county's 59 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 Walker County archive, tornado makes up 9.3% of all recorded severe weather across 8 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #257 for this hazard and #13 within Alabama, putting it in the 91.3 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Apr is the peak month for tornado in Walker County with 16 recorded events, while Jun 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-04-27 | EF4 | 127.8 mi | 1,408 yd | Crossed in |
| 1957-11-17 | EF4 | 7.2 mi | 200 yd | Touched down here |
| 1974-04-03 | EF4 | 110.6 mi | 500 yd | Crossed in |
| 1967-03-06 | EF4 | 20.9 mi | 440 yd | Touched down here |
| 2002-11-10 | EF3 | 72.6 mi | 1,175 yd | Crossed in |
| 2002-11-10 | EF3 | 44.3 mi | 1,175 yd | Crossed in |
| 2001-11-24 | EF3 | 38.9 mi | 300 yd | Crossed in |
| 2011-04-27 | EF3 | 18.9 mi | 375 yd | Touched down here |
| 2010-04-24 | EF3 | 29.6 mi | 400 yd | Touched down here |
| 1961-03-07 | EF3 | 25.9 mi | 10 yd | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 27, 2011 | MARIETTA | EF4 | 9 | 40 | $115.0M |
| Nov 11, 2002 | TOWNLEY | F3 | 7 | 40 | $2.5M |
| Nov 17, 1957 | F4 | 4 | 15 | $25K | |
| Nov 11, 2002 | CARBON HILL | F3 | 3 | 20 | $2.5M |
| Mar 6, 1967 | F4 | 2 | 25 | $250K | |
| Aug 16, 1985 | F2 | 1 | 1 | $2.5M | |
| Apr 4, 1974 | F4 | 0 | 102 | $25.0M | |
| Apr 27, 2011 | DRIFTON | EF3 | 0 | 20 | $13.4M |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 2025 | DRIFTON | EF2 | $0 |
| Nov 30, 2022 | DIXIE SPGS | EF0 | $0 |
| Apr 13, 2020 | CARBON HILL | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 12, 2020 | BRYAN | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 12, 2020 | GORGAS | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 12, 2020 | CARONA | EF1 | $0 |
| Feb 24, 2019 | ELDRIDGE | EF0 | $0 |
| Apr 29, 2014 | JASPER | EF1 | $0 |
| Apr 11, 2013 | KANSAS | EF1 | $0 |
| Jan 30, 2013 | PROSPECT | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from Walker County
- Thunderstorm Wind 347
- Hail 181
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
The tornado touched down near the eastern city limits of Jasper, tracked eastward across Highway 78, and lifted near Golf Course Road. Five structures were damaged. A bank drive through structure was detached from the main building and rotated 90 degrees. Two car dealerships sustained damage. Forty cars were totaled, mostly due to broken windows resulting in water damage. Three air handlers atop the dealerships were rolled. Numerous trees were uprooted. A billboard was also impaled by a fiberglass missile.
This long tracked, strong, tornado first touched down in the Walker County city of Parrish. It then remained on the ground for 54 minutes, traversing nearly 30 miles in three counties. The vast majority of the damage was done in Walker County. In addition to Parrish, heavy damaged occurred in the cities of Cordova, Sumiton, and Empire. Between 70 and 80 homes and other buildings along the path received varying degrees of damage, and at least one home in Parrish was completely destroyed. Somewhere between 800 and 1000 trees were snapped, with a similar number uprooted. While there were no known deaths or injuries directly caused by the tornado, one 50 year old woman died (indirect) after she slipped and fell while going to a storm shelter. The tornado moved into Jefferson County near the intersection of Bankston Road and County Line Road.
The Dora Tornado, the seventh tornado of the evening, began at 9:38 pm, when the tornado touched down on the banks of the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River southwest of Dora. The initial touchdown was in an area of open fields and woods and the first structural damage occurred as the tornado reached the southwest side of Dora. Trees were downed with a good deal of roof damage to homes as the tornado traveled through the middle of Dora. Traveling northeast the tornado damaged a number of structures in Dora, before ending fairly abruptly on the northeast side of town at 9:47 pm.The total path length was 4.3 miles, with a width of 300 yards. No deaths were reported, and any injuries were minor. This tornado was rated an F1.Beg: 33 42.221/87 08.654 End: 33 44.096/87 04.761
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in Walker County, Alabama?
59 tornado events are recorded in Walker County between 1953 and 2025, causing 26 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in Walker County?
The strongest tornado on record in Walker County measured F4.
Where does the tornado data for Walker 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 Walker County, Alabama.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/alabama/walker-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.