EF1 Tornado — Calhoun, Alabama

2025-05-20 · near Saks, Calhoun, Alabama

Event narrative

This tornado appears to have touched down somewhere in the

restricted area of the Pelham Range based on radar. The first

accessible damage occurred along Calhoun County Road (CR)

109 (Bynum Leatherwood Rd) just north of the Lloyds Chapel

Cemetery, where several large trees were uprooted. The tornado

continued to the east-southeast crossing Reaves Road and Gardendale Drive,

where swaths of trees were snapped or uprooted, with trees

falling on a manufactured home and a site built home in the area. Several pine trees were still blocking traffic across CR

46 (Parkwood Rd) near the intersection with McCulley Ln. The

tornado continued east-southeast roughly along CR 46, before crossing

Alexandria Rd, where several streets were blocked with uprooted

hardwood trees. As the tornado approached US Highway 431,

significant damage continued but became more sparse and sporadic

as the tornado appeared to end and transition to a thunderstorm

wind event.

Wider weather episode

A large, negatively-tilted trough over the central Plains ushered a cold front through the Central Alabama region late on May 20. Clusters of showers and thunderstorms developed into a broken line, moving across northern and eastern areas from Marion County to Cleburne County. A more concentrated area of wind damage occurred from eastern St. Clair to eastern Calhoun County, with numerous trees and power lines downed. An EF1 tornado was confirmed in the Saks area as well. Another EF1 tornado occurred in southeastern Cleburne County near Macedonia, near the Georgia state line. Early the next morning, a lone cell formed near the city of Montgomery and moved southeastward, producing another EF1 tornado in Bullock County around 4 AM CDT.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6952, -85.8854)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1254041. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.