EF1 Tornado — Lee, Alabama

2011-11-16 · near Loachapoka, Lee, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado initially touched down in Macon County Alabama and crossed into Lee County approximately 1 mile southwest of Lee Road 3. It continued its northeastward path causing extensive tree damage across western Lee County. Dozens of houses and mobile homes on the western side of Auburn were heavily damaged due to falling trees. Several residences were destroyed. One female and one child were injured when trees fell on a mobile home. Significant damage was also noted in the Terrace Acres neighborhood, where homes were heavily damaged from falling trees. The tornado crossed the southern edge of Auburn University's campus and caused damage to the baseball facilities at Auburn High School and nearby homes. The tornado crossed interstate 85 at US highway 280 and continued moving to the northeast toward Lake Harding. Along the lake, extensive tree damage and damage to numerous homes and boathouses occurred. Several residences were destroyed or sustained complete roof loss. The tornado continued into Harris County Georgia (See November Storm Data from WFO Peachtree City).

Wider weather episode

Several waves of thunderstorms affected Central Alabama on Wednesday, November 16. The airmass ahead of a slow-moving, strong cold front became increasingly moist and unstable during the early morning hours. Rotating supercells within several broken lines of thunderstorms began producing damage just after sunrise in west Central Alabama. Isolated damage continued across the southern portion of the area through the early afternoon. In addition to damage across portions of Alabama, this storm system produced damage from Eastern Texas to the Atlantic Coast.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.5548, -85.6294)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 350986. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.