EF2 tornado in Clarke County, Alabama

A strong EF2 tornado touched down on the Choctaw County side of

the Tombigbee River on 4/5/22 at 9:03 AM CDT. Aerial survey

revealed the tornado rapidly widened and intensified as it crossed

the river, reaching its peak intensity and width on the Clarke

County side at 130 mph and 800 yards in width. The forest along

and east of the river was mowed down with countless hardwood and

softwood trees snapped/uprooted. The tornado continued towards

West Bend Road where it produced EF1 damage over a wide swath

around 550 yards wide. The tornado entered a very distinct multi

vortex phase with three notable convergent damage patterns with

snapped softwood/hardwood trees at this point. This continued

east-northeast to Highway 69 where the tornado remained somewhere

between 500 to 600 yards wide as a multi-vortex doing EF1 damage,

snapping several hardwoods/softwoods and causing some minor to

moderate roof damage to homes. As the tornado moved northeast

towards Bethel Road, it weakened and narrowed in size considerably

only doing a small swath of EF0 damage. The tornado then turned

right towards the east and re-intensified into an EF1 at

Friendship Road with winds upwards of 95 mph as it snapped several

softwood trees. After this, the tornado weakened quickly coming

to an end on Smyer Road where only a couple snapped softwood trees

were noted. A special thanks to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency

and Clarke County EMA for conducting the aerial survey to help

ascertain the peak width and intensity of the tornado.

A very active Spring severe weather season continued in April. A very strong storm system and associated cold front swept across the area during the morning of April 5th. A very unstable atmosphere combined with strong wind shear led to a severe weather outbreak across portions of the deep south. Eight tornado tracks were found along with other areas of wind damage and large hail.