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EF1 tornado in Montgomery County, Alabama

Tornado December 29, 2024 · Montgomery County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
3.9 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 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 tornado began along Bill Joseph Pkwy and moved eastward across Folmar Pkwy and I-65. A few warehouses at the intersection of Bill Joseph and Folmar sustained roof and siding damage, with several trees down as well. At the end of County Court adjacent to I-65, the tornado became much stronger, and two warehouses sustained major roof loss on a corner of each building along with cinder-block wall collapse in sections of both buildings. Several semi trailers were flipped or tossed as well. This damage was rated upper-end EF1. After scattering debris across the interstate, two businesses at the intersection of U.S. 31 and Fischer Road sustained roof and structural damage, with several more semi trailers behind the buildings being flipped or moved. Just south of this location, Hooper Academy had mostly minor damage to the building and surrounding grounds which was not directly related to the tornado. Continuing east-northeast, several trees were uprooted north of Lagos Lane as the tornado tracked northeastward toward Hyundai Blvd. A newly constructed greenhouse-type building south of the main Hyundai facility had much of the covering ripped off. A house and shed at Hyundai Blvd had roof loss, and across the road a small metal building at the southeast corner of the Hyundai campus had roofing removed and blown across a railroad into a tree line. The tornado appeared to dissipate at this point, just before reaching U.S. 331. Maximum estimated winds were 110 mph.

The wider storm

A quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) entered western Alabama from Mississippi just after 9 PM on December 28. With ample wind shear and adequate instability with the line as it passed through Central Alabama, 18 confirmed tornadoes were spawned within different line segments as the QLCS pushed eastward. Of the 18 tornadoes, 6 were rated EF1, including one that had a mile-wide path in Hale County near Sawyerville and two tornadoes that struck areas of central Montgomery County. An EF0 in Lowndes County resulted in two injuries. In addition, strong gusts associated with the QLCS resulted in scattered areas of non-tornadic wind damage.

Began near Mc Gehees (32.2615, -86.3715).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1222524. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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