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EF2 tornado in Morgan County, Alabama

Tornado March 24, 2023 · Morgan County, Alabama

EF2
Rating
13.5 mi
Whole path
175 yd
Path width
1
Death

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 175 yards (0.10 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 tracked out of far east central Lawrence County into Morgan County. Minor damage was noted around Danville High School with the football scoreboard partially destroyed. The tornado intensified as it tracked east-northeast toward Targum Road. Uprooted trees, minor damage to a home, and a destroyed carport were observed. Tracking east, the tornado uprooted and snapped a significant number of trees along Iron Man Road and Forest Chapel Road. While there was heavy structural damage to single-family homes, the bulk of the damage was due to trees falling on houses. The tornado remained on the ground uprooting trees and tracking toward Vaughn Bridge Road. Near the Vaughn Bridge and Vest Road intersection, the tornado lifted and snapped the anchoring system of a single-wide mobile home. This caused the unit to overturn and roll, destroying the home. One fatality was reported at this location. Given the degree of damage, and strapping of anchors to the I-beam, the damage indicator held consistent with expected wind speed values. As the tornado tracked east, numerous trees were uprooted causing structural damage along Highway 31 and further east on Sparkman Street and through Bethel Road. The tornado likely lifted before the Bethel Road and I-65 intersection.

The wider storm

A severe line of thunderstorms rolled through north Alabama during the late evening hours of the 24th into the early morning hours of the 25th, producing 7 tornadoes. An embedded supercell thunderstorm with a history of tornadoes in Mississippi moved east-northeast across northwest Alabama, yielding another two tornadoes in Lauderdale County in Florence and near Anderson. Associated with this line, multiple narrow swaths of intense damaging winds of 60 to 90 mph occurred across the Shoals metro area, including Sheffield, Tuscumbia, Muscle Shoals and Florence. The winds caused widespread power outages, damaged numerous structures, and toppled or snapped numerous trees, power poles and power lines. A few trees and power poles were dropped onto residences and vehicles, either destroying or heavily damaging them. Roof damages were reported at many locations as well. All told, an estimated #### million in damages occurred, the majority in northwest Alabama in Colbert and Lauderdale Counties. As the line continued east, additional tornadoes were spawned in Lawrence, Morgan, Jackson and DeKalb Counties.

Began near Danville Arpt (34.4100, -87.1100).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1086263. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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