EF0 tornado in Lee County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southwest Lee County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF0 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 70 mph. A tornado formed along CR 14 just south of I-85 where a few small pine trees were uprooted and some large branches were broken. The tornado continued northeast, crossing I-85 near Beehive Road and Cox Road, peeling back half of the roof of a mobile home at the Windover Farm mobile home park. It crossed Veterans Boulevard and then caused shingle damage to multiple apartment buildings near Longleaf Drive while breaking tree branches. The tornado dissipated as it crossed Alabama State Road 267 near the southwest boundary of the Auburn University campus.

After over a week of near-record to record high temperatures, several upper-level disturbances followed by a strong upper-level low pressure system produced multiple rounds of severe weather across Central Alabama. This system was characterized by strong upper-level winds and very cold upper-level temperatures. The first round produced one brief, weak tornado in St. Clair County on the evening of January 19. The second round occurred on the morning of January 20 with 12 tornadoes across Marengo, Elmore, Macon, Lee, Pike, and Barbour Counties. A third round produced damaging straight line winds on the night of January 21, including in the Birmingham metro area where the Birmingham airport measured a 75 mph wind gust and in Oneonta where 80 mph straight-line winds caused significant damage. A brief tornado also occurred in Tuscaloosa County with this activity. Finally, a fourth round moved through during the day on January 22 with 3 tornadoes across Bullock and Lee Counties.