Thunderstorm Wind — Lauderdale, Alabama

2023-03-24 · near North Florence, Lauderdale, Alabama

Event narrative

A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced destructive winds in a narrow swath of north and northeast Florence.

Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. Trees, power poles and power lines were taken down in multiple locations. Trees were knocked down onto multiple homes and vehicles. The Seven Points district and areas just north and northeast of the University of North Alabama campus were hit particular hard. Along this long swath, a significant number of trees, power lines and power pols were knocked down. Many residences experience minor to severe damage from trees falling onto their homes or vehicles.

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 → (34.8180, -87.6995)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1088460. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.