Thunderstorm Wind — Lawrence, Alabama

2012-07-05 · near Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama

Event narrative

A severe thunderstorm produced a swath of wind damage across Moulton in the form of a macroburst or a large scale microburst. The overall damage area stretched approximately four miles from west to east and 3.3 miles from north to south, covering the city. The majority of the wind damage was identified as snapped softwood and hardwood trees along with damage to power lines. Many trees were noted to be down on homes and businesses across Moulton. Several businesses had windows partially broken out. Pockets of more intense damage was specifically found in an area along highway 157, just north of highway 24. Specifically, the Lawrence county exchange building received significant roof damage and the surrounding grounds had damage to fencing and large items were picked up and thrown some distance. The adjacent building and farm equipment were completely flattened. Across the street, the Lawrence county funeral home had its roof partially ripped off with significant interior damage. In Moulton, the shirt factory building, which was a free standing concrete building along Court street, had its roof completely ripped off along with a partial wall collapse. Several power poles were snapped off near the base, in this area. The store front across the street had its windows completely blown out. Further west along Court street, a gas station sustained roof damage and another building had its garage destroyed. The high school also sustained significant damage, with the gynmasium roof covering being completely removed and other portions of the school having the windows blown out. There was also significant water damage inside of the main classrooms of the school. The final maximum wind rating of the macroburst was based on a combination of the damage to power poles and damage to free standing structures in three separate locations across the city of Moulton, Alabama.

Wider weather episode

An area of scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed in the afternoon across northwest Alabama and moved east and northeast across north and into northeast Alabama. There were several reports of wind damage and large hail along with a strong macroburst that occurred in Lawrence County, Alabama.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.4800, -87.3151)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 405593. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.