EF0 Tornado — Houston, Alabama

2024-05-10 · near Memphis, Houston, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado touched down along Hooper Cherry Road early on the morning of May 10th. Initial damage was to trees. Additional damage occurred along A.J. Register Road, where significant damage to outbuildings was noted. The tornado continued southeastward, crossing Cottonwood Road near County Road 33. Roof damage to farm buildings was observed here. Additional tree and roof damage was noted along Gene Terry Road south of Nobles Road. The tornado dissipated shortly after this point. The damage was consistent with an EF-0 rating and maximum winds of approximately 85 mph. Special thanks to Houston County EMA for assistance with this damage survey.

Wider weather episode

May was an incredibly busy month defined by heat, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms. The main weather event occurred on the 10th when tornadoes and swaths of intense straight-line winds ravaged the Tallahassee area. A severe squall line plowed through parts of SE AL, the FL Panhandle and Big Bend early that morning and produced a total of 6 confirmed tornadoes. Three tornadoes went through Leon County, of which two, each rated EF-2 (max winds of 115 mph), simultaneously converged on Tallahassee. That same storm also was responsible for destructive wind damage in excess of 100 mph with the FAMU Weatherstem site reporting a peak gust of 84 mph, while the Tallahassee Airport gusted to 66 mph. The former surpassed the 83-mph record gust at KTLH from 9/11/1990! The resultant impacts were widespread power outages, downed/snapped/uprooted trees, and 400+ broken utility poles (exceeding Hurricane Hermine/Irma/Michael combined, per the City of TLH). Unfortunately, there were two storm-related fatalities in Tallahassee.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.1212, -85.3588)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1185753. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.