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EF1 tornado in Lauderdale County, Alabama

Tornado April 5, 2025 · Lauderdale County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
34.6 mi
Whole path
85 yd
Path width
5
Injuries
$6.8M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Colbert County → Lauderdale County → Lauderdale County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 85 yards (0.05 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

Aerial UAV-drone data provided by Lauderdale County Emergency Management confirmed that an EF-1 tornado tracked from the Center Star area to near Pine Haven Shores.

The damage path began near County Road 107 and tracked east-southeast through the Bluewater Creek area. Numerous hardwood trees were uprooted, and a farm shed sustained roof damage near County Road 33. Additional uprooted trees were observed east of Bluewater Creek, extending through the intersection of Highway 101 and U.S. Highway 72. Sparse damage was noted north of U.S. Highway 72, approaching the Pine Haven Shores area, where the tornado dissipated.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Center Star (34.8572, -87.4601).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1259222. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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