EF1 Tornado — Macon, Alabama

2022-04-05 · near Franklin, Macon, Alabama

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4656, -85.8051)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1021387. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.