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EF1 tornado in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

Tornado May 6, 2009 · Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

EF1

Rating

0.5 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

$65K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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 touched down briefly near AL-13, south of the New Lexington Community. Two homes sustained moderate damage. One home had its garage door blown in and subsequently a wall blown out. Wind entered into another home's attic and blew out a portion of the roof. A wooden projectile (1 by 6) was blown approximately 100 yards and embedded into the side of a home. A pontoon boat was also overturned.

The wider storm

An upper level disturbance and a nearby stationary front combined to produce numerous severe thunderstorms across Central Alabama, that included damaging winds, large hail, and several tornadoes.

Began near Samantha (33.4790, -87.6438).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF1 Pickens County EF1 Pickens County EF1 Tuscaloosa County EF1 Walker County EF1 Jefferson County EF0 Walker County EF0 Walker County EF0 Blount County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 176009. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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