EF1 tornado in Jackson County, Alabama

A survey team from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) relayed reports of damage and geocoded photographs along CR-690, south of Bryant, AL (Jackson County). NWS Huntsville, after coordination with UAH and investigation of the photos and radar data, determined the damage was associated with a weak EF-1 tornado.

The bulk of the damage was generally observed along CR-690, between CR-691 and CR-676. Damage indicators were limited to snapped soft wood trees and/or snapped large branches. While the majority of the damage was indicative of an EF-0 tornado, there was a small path of EF-1 damage just to the west of CR-676. In this area, several healthy softwood trees were snapped before the tornado weakened as it approached a ridge on the east side of CR-676.

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.