EF1 tornado in Lawrence County, Alabama

A tornado developed along County Road 273 about one mile west of Town Creek downing a telephone pole and several trees. The tornado tracked southeast towards the northwest part of Town Creek removing roof shingles and bending the metal roof off of the Hazelwood High School building. Along Hazelwood Street numerous trees were snapped or uprooted behind the school. The tornado continued southeast towards Factor Street where more snapped and uprooted trees were found. Then, the tornado crossed Highway 101 causing damage to the porch of a residence. Multiple large trees were snapped or uprooted near a bank and a couple of houses along Church and Meredith Streets as the tornado proceeded southeast crossing Highway 20. South of Highway 20, softwood tree tops and hardwood trees were snapped causing damage to a residence near Auburn Street. Additional tree damage was found near the Lawrence County Industrial Air Park and Valley Landing Golf Course where multiple trees were snapped. One large Hardwood tree was uprooted near the Lockheed Martin Facility near Courtland.

The tornado then proceeded southeast and crossed County Road 150 about one mile south of Courtland resulting in multiple hardwood and softwood trees being snapped. It then proceeded toward Highway 33 where several hardwood and softwood trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado then moved towards County Road 377 about one and one half miles south of Highway 20 where it lifted after snapping the top of one hardwood tree.

A quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) dropped southward into the Tennessee Valley during the afternoon and evening hours. The airmass was very unstable, and despite low to moderate low to mid level wind shear, multiple swaths of damaging winds occurred. Within these pockets of winds, a few weak and mostly short-lived tornadoes developed. The most concentrated wind and tornado damage occurred in portions of Lauderdale, Colbert, and Lawrence Counties including the Shoals region of Florence, Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, Town Creek and Courtland. Other short-lived tornadoes occurred in Madison, Morgan and Cullman Counties. Unfortunately, one person was killed by a falling tree near West Point in Cullman County.