EF1 tornado in Jackson County, Alabama

The parent supercell thunderstorm that produced the Monte Sano EF-2 tornado also produced a separate area of rotation that caused the EF-1 Estillfork tornado. The National Weather Service and University of Alabama in Huntsville surveys found significant softwood tree damage in the form of healthy and snapped pine trees along CR-9, east of the CR-9 and CR-141 intersection. The convergence of the down trees was evident at several locations along CR-9 and in the Estillfork area. Peak winds were determined to be 95 MPH.

A tornado outbreak occurred during the evening hours of the 29th into the early morning hours of the 30th. A very mild and unstable air mass was in place along with a strong southwesterly upper level jet. These ingredients combined with a cold front and pre-frontal trough sweeping from west to east across the area sparked scattered supercell thunderstorms during the evening, a few of which were tornadic. This was followed by a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) that occurred with the trough, which also was responsible for severe weather. Beneficial rainfall occurred with this system with 2-5 inches reported. Some of the rainfall fell fast enough to produce brief flash flooding in the Florence area during the evening.