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EF2 tornado in Cullman County, Alabama

Tornado May 10, 2008 · Cullman County, Alabama

EF2

Rating

13.5 mi

Whole path

330 yd

Path width

$155K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Walker County → Cullman County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 330 yards (0.19 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

A tornado moved across far southern Cullman County. Several debris paths were found during this storm survey. The most significant damage with peak wind speeds of 120 mph occurred along Highway 91 in the vicinity of the town of Colony. Four chicken houses were either severely damaged or destroyed and numerous large trees were snapped or uprooted. Significant tree damage was found in the vicinity of Arkadelphia along County Roads 8 and 35. Spotty lighter damage was found near the end of the tornado's path just east of Interstate 65 near Black Bottom.

The wider storm

A complex of severe thunderstorms produced wind damage and isolated tornadoes in a moist unstable environment near the junction of a warm front and approaching cold front. The tornadic circulations were embedded within the linear segments of the line of thunderstorms that moved through the area. Swaths of wind damage were reported, particularly along interstate 65 between mile markers 295 and 299 near Dodge City.

Began near Arkadelphia (33.8909, -87.0234).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Lauderdale County EF1 Lauderdale County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 103887. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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