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EF3 tornado in Lee County, Alabama

Tornado April 29, 2014 · Lee County, Alabama

EF3
Rating
11.5 mi
Whole path
1,200 yd
Path width
13
Injuries

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Russell County → Lee County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,200 yards (0.68 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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 crossed into Lee County, approximately six-tenths of a mile west of County Line Road. It continued to the northeast and strengthened to its maximum intensity near AL-169, with winds of 140 mph. At this location, approximately 6 manufactured homes were lifted, rolled, and completely destroyed. Additionally, a split level home had its roof and the exterior walls of the top floor removed. Three wood frame homes were also lifted off their foundation and completely destroyed. Several more homes sustained roof damage. Hundreds of trees were snapped off or were uprooted, with several trees debarked. From here, the tornado traveled northeast, where it continuously uprooted trees along its path. As it crossed lee County Road 205, one home suffered extensive roof damage, while approximately 20 additional homes sustained mainly shingle damage. The tornado crossed Lee County Road 179, where a few additional homes suffered minor roof damage as well. As it continue to the northeast, it began to weaken considerably and crossed US-280. A few trees were uprooted at this location. The tornado lifted along Lee County Road 298, approximately four-tenths of a mile from Lee County Road 318.

The wider storm

A large scale severe weather event began Saturday, April 26 and ended Wednesday, April 30th, producing several waves of severe weather from the Central Plains eastward through the Deep South, and across a significant portion of the eastern United States. Strong and violent tornadoes, very large hail, flash flooding, and damaging straight line winds accompanied this dynamic storm system. The most tornadoes occurred across the Deep South as the system moved into Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, April 28th. Supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon over eastern Mississippi and northwest Alabama in the warm sector well ahead of a cold front. The activity slowly spread east and southeast overnight, with this wave of severe storms ending early Tuesday morning. Storms redeveloped late Tuesday afternoon and moved into Central Alabama. A large area of rainfall across the northern Gulf Coast limited the amount of instability across the area, and storms remained below severe limits. The last wave of severe weather occurred early Wednesday morning across the south as an isolated storm produced large hail, as the system finally pulled east of the area.

Began near Prince Xrd (32.4704, -85.2302).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 523251. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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