EF1 Tornado — Jackson, Alabama

2023-03-25 · near Sulphur Spgs, Jackson, Alabama

Event narrative

Aerial surveillance provided by Jackson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), supplemented by a ground survey of National Weather Service personnel and DeKalb County EMA confirmed an EF-1 tornado near the Flat Rock area.

The tornado touched down southwest of CR 81, north of Flat Rock near Fabius Poultry. Multiple chicken houses sustained roof damage at this location. The tornado tracked east toward CR 81 where numerous softwood trees were uprooted. The final damage point was east of Highway 117 where a possible ground scar was noted. Damage was then reported along and between Highway 71 and CR 326 to the county line. Uprooted

trees and minor structure damage was observed in this location.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.7856, -85.7393)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1086284. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.