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EF1 tornado in Lee County, Alabama

Tornado November 30, 2016 · Lee County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
3.2 mi
Whole path
300 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in extreme northern Lee County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated near 90 mph.

The first damage surveyed was along Lee Road 88 just southwest of US Highway 280 near the town of Waverly. The tornado then traveled northeast and crossed Lee Road 453 where it caused minor structure damage and several trees were either snapped or uprooted. The tornado then crossed US Highway 280 and entered southern Chambers County about one mile west of Highway 147.

The wider storm

A warm front moved northward during the day on Tuesday, November 29th, and surface temperatures climbed into the 70s across north Alabama. Low level shear and storm relative helicity increased over west Alabama Tuesday evening and discrete supercells developed over west Alabama.

Began near Middle Brooks Xrds (32.7056, -85.5591).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Winston CountyEF2 Winston CountyEF1 Pickens CountyEF1 Winston CountyEF1 Lamar CountyEF1 Marion CountyEF1 Marengo CountyEF0 Marion CountyEF0 Fayette County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 668099. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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