EF1 Tornado — Lauderdale, Alabama

2025-04-05 · near Wilson Lake, Lauderdale, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado crossed Wilson Lake from Colbert County and moved into the Aqua Vista community with several trees uprooted and large limbs snapped. The tornado tracked to the east-northeast. Drone imagery courtesy of Lauderdale County EMA supplemented the ground survey for areas inaccessible by roads. With this data, it was determined that the tornado then tracked north of County Road 31 where several more trees were uprooted before impacting a neighborhood off of Bull Run road. There, several houses were missing shingles and large portions of fencing. Outdoor sheds had a collapse of most walls and tree damage was also present. The tornado then crossed County Road 33, snapping and uprooting more hardwood trees, and then crossed U.S. Highway 72 just southeast of Elgin, AL. Drone imagery indicated areas of trees uprooted or with large areas of limbs snapped as the tornado crossed Second Creek before lifting just south of Toonersville, where damage to the tree canopy was noted.

Wider weather episode

A line of severe thunderstorms roared east-northeast through north Alabama during the evening of the 5th into the early morning hours of the 6th. The line produced four tornadoes in north Alabama and several reports of wind damage, particularly in northwest Alabama. Also, flash flooding resulted in multiple water rescues including 10 hikers in Bankhead National Forest, a woman and two childeren swept off of a road in Lawrence County, and a woman in Cullman County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.8230, -87.5080)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1259206. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.