Thunderstorm Wind in Montgomery County, Alabama

Trained spotter measured 71 mph wind gust using a home weather station with an anemometer 7 feet AGL in the Ridgefield/Vaughn Meadows area near Vaughan Rd and Perry Hill Rd.

As a major winter storm unfolded across parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, and North Alabama, Central Alabama saw a quick warmup prior to a steep temperature fall as a surface low moved across the Birmingham area. On January 24, freezing rain was observed with light ice accretion across Marion and Winston counties. As the low moved through the state by the morning of January 25, a sharp warm sector developed generally south and east of the I-59 corridor. A line of thunderstorms developed during the mid-morning hours and moved eastward across Central Alabama. These storms briefly turned severe in the Montgomery area, producing an EF-1 tornado along the Lowndes/Montgomery county line as well as considerable straight-line wind damage in a swath along the I-85 corridor within the city of Montgomery.