EF1 tornado in Lee County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in central Lee County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 95 mph. The tornado touched down along Cunningham Drive, just northeast of the Auburn-Opelika Airport and tracked northeast. Minor damage occurred at touch down but increased as the tornado approached Pepperell Parkway, where numerous trees were snapped or uprooted and some homes suffered damage. The tornado lifted near Northgate Drive and Oak Bowery Road.

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.