EF1 tornado in Lee County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in far southern Lee County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 105 mph.

This tornado was a continuation of the Macon County Tornado. The tornado entered Lee County about 1.2 miles north of Highway 80. It traveled northeast and crossed County Road 29, County Road 11, Cave Mill Road, and Alabama Highway 51. It continued northeast across County Road 166, County Road 165, and finally lifted near County Road 170. Numerous trees were snapped off and uprooted across southern Lee County. Many mobile homes and frame homes suffered varying degrees of roof damage. Two mobile homes were rolled over near the end of the damage path and one person was injured.

On the morning of Sunday March 3rd, 2019, an upper-level disturbance moved eastward from the Southern Plains into the southern Gulf Coast States. As favorable upper-level support and deep-layer forcing approached the lower Mississippi River Valley, a surface low pressure developed and moved northeastward into Central Alabama by late morning. Ahead of this surface low, a warm front initially along the Florida Panhandle moved northward allowing for the transport of warm, moist unstable air into southern and southeastern Central Alabama. This frontal boundary eventually became more stationary and stalled out north of the I-85 corridor as the strengthening surface low moved eastward. During this time, a large area of elevated thunderstorms affected portions northern Central Alabama while supercell thunderstorms initiated across the favorable warm sector. As these supercells intensified during the afternoon, parameters became favorable for tornadic thunderstorms in an area along and south of the I-85 corridor.