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EF2 tornado in Coosa County, Alabama

Tornado February 6, 2008 · Coosa County, Alabama

EF2

Rating

15.9 mi

Whole path

2,000 yd

Path width

$120K

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 2,000 yards (1.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

The tornado touched down in the Hidden Valley community along Lay Lake, about 2 miles northeast of Lay Dam. It then tracked northeastward, before producing its most significant damage just east of Marble Valley along County Road 56. Four large wooden power poles were snapped off. Two mobile homes were knocked off their foundations and rolled over. Hundreds of hardwood and softwood trees were either snapped off or uprooted along the path. The tornado then continued northeastward, eventually crossing into Talladega County.

The wider storm

A strong cold front and very intense upper level storm system moving across the Gulf Coast States brought numerous severe thunderstorms and several tornadoes to Central Alabama.

Began near Marble Vly (32.9955, -86.5022).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Fayette County EF1 Lamar County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 82982. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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