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EF1 tornado in Jackson County, Alabama

Tornado May 9, 2024 · Jackson County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
0.3 mi
Path length
108 yd
Path width
$155K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 108 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

A brief tornado touched down on a ridgetop northwest of Princeton, and then crossed a field as it uprooted and snapped trees before crossing County Road 508. At this location, numerous hardwood and softwood trees were knocked down. Some of the hardwood trees uprooted here were 6-7 feet in diameter, with several pine trees snapped about 10 feet above the ground. It was at this point that the tornado was the strongest, with up to 104 mph winds. Also at this location, a manufactured home (single-wide) sustained major damage, with the home shifting about 10-15 feet back from its original location. There were no tie-downs for the home noted, but more than half of the roof was destroyed with insulation strewn for about 30 yards into the trees behind the home. Further south and east of this location, the tornado dissipated as it crossed over the terrain just east of Lick Fork.

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 Princeton (34.8506, -86.2390).

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 1181828. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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