EF2 Tornado — Tallapoosa, Alabama

2012-03-02 · near Our Town, Tallapoosa, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado touched down just west of Highway 63 in western Tallapoosa County, where it uprooted and snapped scores of trees. It continued northeastward and passed just north of Wind Creek State Park, where it produced significant and widespread tree damage between Highway 128 and the shores of Lake Martin. The tornado caused significant damage to several homes in the Pineywoods Area. It then crossed Lake Martin and came ashore in the River Bend Subdivision, where it snapped or uprooted hundreds more trees. The tornado continued moving to the northeast and crossed Highway 280, just west of Midway, producing minor tree damage. It passed north of Jacksons Gap and passed just south of Eagle Creek, where it widened to over one-quarter mile. It destroyed one double-wide manufactured home and two single-wides. As the storm crossed Alabama 49, it lofted and destroyed a single-wide manufactured home, fatally injuring one individual. The tornado path broadened to approximately 1000 yards as it crossed Elder Road. Farther to the east, approximately 14 homes received mainly roof damage and scores of trees were snapped or uprooted on Buttston Road, just north of Denver Road. The tornado continued into eastern Tallapoosa County, and then moved into Chambers County, where it eventually lifted.

Wider weather episode

On March 2, 2012, a strong cold front moved through Central Alabama. Severe thunderstorms developed along and ahead of this front. Some of these thunderstorms were supercells. These supercells produced damage across southern and eastern sections of the area. Damaging straight line winds, tornadoes, large hail and localized flooding occurred with this event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.8666, -85.9669)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 374385. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.