EF1 tornado in Dekalb County, Alabama

A tornado began just east of Graves Street in the Crossville area, where a large tree was uprooted and a large branch (8 to 12 inches in diameter) was broken off of a tree 20 yards away. Additionally, a small porch on a nearby residence was damaged and lost most of its roofing. The tornado continued east just south

and paralleling Highway 68, uprooting sporadic trees and breaking off large tree branches along its way. More substantial roof damage occurred at a building associated with the Sand Mountain Research Extension Center off of County Road (CR) 190. The tornado intensified at this location to EF-1 intensity, collapsing the entire roof of the structure. Maximum peak winds of 93 mph occurred at this location. Here, the tornado continued on a eastward path and uprooted one very large tree and snapped another one from its base. The tornado seemed to widen a bit more as it pushed east, but weakened again to EF-0 intensity as it crossed CR 37. At this location, the tornado picked up a covering structure for hay and tossed it across a field. On the south end of the field, a small portion of one side of a barn was torn apart. The tornado then moved a bit more to the east-northeast paralleling Highway 68 as its path width decreased significantly

to less than 300 yards. The tornado continued its path uprooting trees or snapping off large branches of trees before dissipating just east of CR 84.

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.