EF4 Tornado — Lee, Alabama

2019-03-03 · near Bupree, Lee, Alabama

Event narrative

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in far southern Lee County and determined that it was consistent with an EF4 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 170 mph.

This track is a continuation of a track that began in Macon County. The tornado crossed into Lee County near Lee Road 812 and tracked northeast to County Road 29 where it removed the roof and collapsed several cinder block walls of a church. The tornado continued to intensify as it approached County Road 11, where it peeled sheet metal off of the porch of a home and ripped some sheet metal off of two outdoor storage sheds and continued to uproot numerous pine trees. Debris from structures and their contents were strewn along a tree line to the east of their original location and some evidence of weak ground rowing was observed along the surface tornado path.

The tornado reached its peak intensity just south of the intersection of Lee County Road 36 and Lee County Road 39, where it rolled a manufactured home and emptied its contents nearby on the northern side of the track. Additional damage toward the southern portion of the track included the complete destruction of a house with all debris tossed a short distance from the foundation. The tornado bent the frame of a car around the remnant of a large tree whose upper portion had broken off and totaled three vehicles by severe impacts into the bases of two remaining tree stubs. Farther east on the other side of a small lake, a well-anchored and constructed home was leveled with debris removed from the foundation and anchored bolt screws remaining intact. Toward the northern edge of the tornado, the destruction of two double-wide and a single-wide manufactured home was observed. This was the peak intensity of the tornado due to the combination of damage to the two houses along with extensive severe tree damage including trees snapped at their bases and large trees with expansive root systems uprooted along with some sporadic evidence of ground rowing.

The tornado began to decrease in intensity as it continued east roughly paralleling Lee County Road 39 where two manufactured homes were destroyed with most debris deposited away from the original location and both of the metal frames of the mobile homes could not be located. Another manufactured home was destroyed with its contents deposited in a swath from the site into the remains of a nearby tree line. A car was found in an overturned position against a hardy tree stripped of most limbs with a mattress from a bed wrapped around the mid portion of the tree. A badly mangled metal frame of a manufactured home and debris displaced nearby was all that remained of one residence. Nearby a tractor trailer rig was on its side and shoved around a sturdy tree while a nearby site-built home lost nearly all of its exterior walls with debris remaining on or near the home site. Severe tree destruction continued in this area with trees snapped at their bases and uprooted. To the north of Lee County Road 39, significant debris was deposited in a wooded area where the tornado performed significant timber damage and toppled at least one high-tension power line tower.

After demolishing two double-wide and a single-wide manufactured home the tornado tracked northeast and crossed Lee County Road 51 just north of the intersection with Lee County Road 39. A double-wide manufactured home was moved off of its base and the exterior walls collapsed on a family residence along with significant tree damage.

Some weakening occurred farther east as the tornado crossed Lee County Road 38 where it deposited a large amount of debris into a ragged forested area. The tornado crossed Lee County Road 100 and Lee County Road 166 where it caused damage to trees with some trunks snapped and some trees uprooted.

Tornado damage was observed along Lee County Road 165 and along portions of Lee County Road 40 and Lee County Road 2049. Exterior walls of a family residence were removed and a significant loss of roofing material from a house and a manufactured home were observed. The tornado flipped a manufactured home and deposited its contents nearby along with destroying the roof and walls of a single-wide manufactured home.

The tornado crossed Lee County Road 170 and County Road 175, and then Highway 169 with significant damage to timber along this path. The tornado crossed Lee County Road 245 and Lee County Road 179 with damage to the roof of a house near County Road 239 along with more timber damage. As it approached Smiths Station, the tornado crossed Fullers Lake where it rolled a manufactured home and caused some loss of roofing material to a house. Additional damage occurred along Lee County Road 294 and Lee County Road 298 where a professional building lost some of its roofing materials. Damage also occurred to siding and roofing at several small homes that were not well constructed. As the tornado crossed U.S. Highway 280 it caused some roof damage to a restaurant, damaged a billboard and collapsed a cellular service communications tower. The tornado moved across Lee County Road 318 where some roof damage to homes occurred along with significant timber damage. The tornado moved tracked towards the Chattahoochee River where it caused roof damage to some houses near the river and downed a metal high-tension power line tower. The tornado crossed the Chattahoochee River and continued into Georgia.

There were 23 fatalities and 90 injuries. The American Red Cross estimated 225 homes were destroyed, while another 133 homes sustained major damage.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4571, -85.4362)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 813640. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.