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EF3 tornado in Limestone County, Alabama

Tornado May 8, 2024 · Limestone County, Alabama

EF3
Rating
3.8 mi
Whole path
228 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 228 yards (0.13 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

The tornado descended Melton Bluff in Lawrence County and crossed the Tennessee River into Limestone County, moving ashore at the Brigadoon neighborhood. Public photos and videos confirm the tornado was over water before it moved on land. It caused damage at Inverness Place and this is where significant damage occurred to several homes. The home that had the greatest damage had all exterior walls facing the river collapsed, the roof of the main part of the house completely gone and the two story four car garage was collapsed with the roof also gone. The front of the house and interior rooms remained intact. Homes nearby had substantial roof damage, damaged vehicles, and other various exterior damage. Numerous large trees throughout the neighborhood were uprooted or snapped. Moving further into the subdivision, there was roof and exterior home damage to a lesser extent, fences knocked over by other debris and broken windows. The tornado lifted in a field outside of the subdivision.

The wider storm

A significant outbreak of tornadoes occurred in two waves during the evening of the 8th and early morning hours of the 9th. The first wave occurred as multiple supercell thunderstorms developed across southern middle Tennessee and far north central Alabama. These storms moved east during the evening hours, producing ## tornadoes in north central and northeast Alabama.

A break in the activity was then followed by a line of thunderstorms that dropped southeast through southern middle Tennessee into north central and northeast Alabama after Midnight through the early morning hours. The line produced tornadoes in southern middle Tennessee, a couple of which continued into northeast Alabama. Additional tornadoes occurred with the line in far northeast Alabama.

In addition, locally heavy rainfall from the slow-moving supercells produced flash flooding during the evening of the 8th, with several roadways covered with or barricaded due to hazardous driving conditions. This primarily affected locations in southeastern Madison County, northern Marshall County, and southwest Jackson County.

Began near Ripley (34.7480, -87.1830).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1179771. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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