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EF1 tornado in Macon County, Alabama

Tornado April 5, 2022 · Macon County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
4.2 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Macon County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 90 mph. The tornado touched down along Highway 49 in the Franklin community.

The tornado moved somewhat erratically northeastward, crossed largely harvested forested fields as it approached Macon County Road 36, breaking a few large tree limbs or causing a few trees to lean into others. The tornado continued across open fields before breaking large limbs along Chewacla Creek. After crossing the creek, the tornado crossed the site of the historic Tuskegee Army Airfield, intermittently snapping or uprooting numerous young softwood trees, and continued across Macon County Road 56. The tornado then seemed to intensify somewhat as it approached Alabama Highway 199, where 10 to 20 mature pine trees were snapped. The tornado quickly weakened and dissipated just east of Highway 199 in the vicinity of Bulger Creek.

The wider storm

An upper-level disturbance moved across the Deep South in the early morning hours of April 5, 2022. This fostered the development of a surface low which moved across Central Mississippi and into North Alabama. Thunderstorms in the morning initially posed a threat of large hail and damaging winds. Later in the morning and into the afternoon, storms became more surface-based and a tornado threat resulted, mainly impacting the southern and southeastern portions of Central Alabama. On April 6th, a strong cold front moved through Alabama, producing another round of severe thunderstorms, but no tornadoes.

Began near Franklin (32.4656, -85.8051).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

8 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1021387. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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