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EF1 tornado in Limestone County, Alabama

Tornado May 20, 2025 · Limestone County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
2.8 mi
Path length
160 yd
Path width
$927K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 160 yards (0.09 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

The tornado began south of Highway 72, between York Lane and Lucas Ferry Road. Significant impacts were observed near the intersection of Lucas Ferry Road and Sanderfer Road, where numerous wooden power poles were snapped, and cross members were broken. Uprooted trees and additional snapped power poles were

documented along Sanderfer Road. The tornado tracked in an east-northeast direction, continuing through the Jefferson Road and Highway 72 vicinity before dissipating.

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 Reid (34.7749, -87.0065).

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 1276534. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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