TornadoLookup

Home / Alabama / Lawrence

Tornado in Lawrence County, Alabama

Tornado May 20, 2025 · Lawrence County, Alabama

–
Not rated
2.2 mi
Whole path
25 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 25 yards (0.01 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

Not rated. NOAA lists no rating for this tornado. Ratings come from surveying damage, and the National Weather Service now records “EFU” (unknown) when a tornado hit nothing a survey team could rate.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A waterspout developed over Wheeler Reservoir south of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. The waterspout moved east-northeast

towards Round Island Creek Public Use Area crossing from Lawrence into Limestone County. At least two citizen videos from the Black Landing area confirmed the waterspout and its movement and were posted on social media.

The wider storm

An outbreak of tornadoes, large hail, wind damage and flash flooding occurred during the afternoon and evening of the 20th. Fourteen tornadoes occurred in north Alabama, including 1 EF-0, 10 EF-1, 2 EF-2, and 1 EF-U (unknown) which was a waterspout on Wheeler Lake. One person was injured in Colbert County. There were also several reports of large hail, including baseball sized and larger in northern Lawrence and southeastern Lauderdale Counties. Damaging winds were also experienced as well with the severe thunderstorms. Lightning sparked a fire which resulted in severe structural and water damage and total loss to the Albertville Public Library which is scheduled to be demolished. There were two reports of flash flooding in Jackson County.

Began near Flower Hill (34.6851, -87.1256).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1276311. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.