Thunderstorm Wind — Lauderdale, Alabama

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

Event narrative

A bow echo from an embedded supercell within a line of thunderstorms intensified and produced a long-lived and at times wide swath of wind damage as it entered the Shoals, including Florence and Killen, to the east central part of Lauderdale County north of Elgin. Widespread wind damage occurred in south, southeast and eastern Florence to Killen, becoming more sporadic further east. Wind speeds of 60-65 mph occurred in much of this area, with a few gusts of 80-90 mph in a few locations. One of the hardest hit locations was between Killen and Florence where the entire roof was taken off of antique mall, a sign was blown out at a church, and roofing was taken off of a fire station. Trees, power poles and power lines were taken down in numerous locations, stormwater and gas lines were damaged, and debris and utility restoration costs were extensive. Schools buses were damaged, parks were damaged with extensive cleanup. A significant number of residences experienced damage due to falling trees. Damage, cleanup and repair costs are in the millions of dollars.

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 → (34.7874, -87.6890)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1088499. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.