Thunderstorm Wind — Cherokee, Alabama

2024-05-27 · near Firestone, Cherokee, Alabama

Event narrative

An area of tree damage, separate from the nearby tornado path, occurred along County Road 104 along Weiss Lake, where some trees fell on homes. The sporadic and divergent nature of the damage and wider path were consistent with straight line winds. Elsewhere, trees were also downed at Highway 273 and County Road 47 and along County Road 76 near Centre.

Wider weather episode

A line of thunderstorms entered northern portions of Central Alabama after 4:30 AM CDT on May 27, producing scattered areas of wind damage and an embedded tornado in Cherokee County. Simultaneously, an area of intense thunderstorms moved northeastward from north of Meridian, Mississippi into the southern and eastern portions of the Birmingham metro area. This resulted in widespread tree and power line damage and occasional structure damage across northern Hale, southern Tuscaloosa, Bibb, Shelby, Jefferson, St. Clair, and Talladega counties. As the northern line progressed southeastward and later merged with the advancing thunderstorms moving east of Birmingham, a second tornado occurred over northern Randolph County at approximately 6:55 AM CDT. Additional activity occurred during the afternoon hours over the southeastern counties, with a few reports of nickel to quarter-size hail.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.2594, -85.6446)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1170337. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.