Alabama Storm Damage

James Spann | April 3, 2009 @ 11:12 am | 2 Replies

Thanks to a variety of viewers for these images from storm damage across Alabama last night… there was wind damage from the Mississippi to the Georgia border. Also there are some shots of the Tuscaloosa County wall cloud as well; you can also see NWS storm survey results below the pictures.

The damage reports are on the map below… with the warnings from last night below (yellow areas). Good job by the NWS with the severe thunderstorm warnings.

picture-1

NWS Storm Survey info…

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
107 PM CDT FRI APR 3 2009

…SHORT TORNADO TRACK FOUND IN NORTH TUSCALOOSA COUNTY…

…TUSCALOOSA COUNTY TORNADO…

EVENT DATE: THURSDAY 02 APRIL 2009
EVENT TYPE: EF-1 TORNADO
ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS (MPH): 85-95
EVENT START LOCATION & TIME: 33.436/87.644 3:43 PM
EVENT END LOCATION & TIME: 33.443/87.638 3:44 PM
DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): 0.579 MILE
DAMAGE WIDTH (IN YARDS): 150 YARDS
WARNINGS: TORNADO WARNING WAS IN EFFECT FROM 3:32 PM UNTIL 4:00 PM
WATCHES: TORNADO WATCH #107 WAS IN EFFECT FROM 1:35 PM UNTIL 8:00 PM

NUMEROUS HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED
ALONG THE TORNADO PATH. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TREE DAMAGE WAS ALONG
THE TRACK AS IT CROSSED BRADY-MONTGOMERY ROAD. THIS TORNADO
OCCURRED ABOUT 2.5 MILES NORTHWEST OF SAMANTHA…IN NORTHWESTERN
TUSCALOOSA COUNTY.

…STRAIGHT-LINE WIND DAMAGE FOUND IN LAMAR AND MARION COUNTIES…

…WIND DAMAGE IN LAMAR AND MARION COUNTIES…

A NWS SURVEY TEAM HAS CONFIRMED THE WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE ACROSS
LAMAR AND MARION COUNTIES WAS A RESULT OF STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.
THESE SEVERE WINDS WERE ASSOCIATED WITH A BOWING SEGMENT…WITHIN A
LINE OF STORMS…THAT CROSSED LAMAR AND MARION COUNTIES BETWEEN 740
PM AND 815 PM ON THURSDAY. THE WINDS WERE ESTIMATED TO BE ON THE
ORDER OF 50 TO 70 MPH.

THIS LINE OF STORMS CAUSED WIDESPREAD STRAIGHT-LINE WIND DAMAGE FROM
THE MISSISSIPPI STATE LINE TO THE GEORGIA STATE LINE BETWEEN 740 PM
AND 11 PM. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE OCCURRED FROM LAMAR AND
MARION COUNTIES…EASTWARD TO ETOWAH AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES.

And the NWS Huntsville has confirmed at least four tornadoes in the Tennessee Valley region of North Alabama… read their storm survey results here.

Category: Uncategorized

About the Author (Author Profile)

James Spann is one of the most recognized and trusted television meteorologists in the industry. He holds the AMS CCM designation and television seals from the AMS and NWA. He is a past winner of the Broadcast Meteorologist of the Year from both professional organizations.