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EF1 tornado in Lauderdale County, Alabama

Tornado May 10, 2008 · Lauderdale County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
1.6 mi
Path length
250 yd
Path width
$100K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 250 yards (0.14 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

A tornado with peak winds of around 100 mph touched down near a cove along the Tennessee River and moved east northeast, nearly paralleling county road 14 between the Wright and Rhodesville communities. Extensive tree damage was observed with multiple large trees uprooted and many medium size tree trunks snapped. The heaviest damage occurred to a farm along county road 14, where an all metal barn was completely destroyed, an awning adjacent to another outbuilding was ripped off, and concrete posts were ripped from the ground. The metal roofing was catapulted approximately 1/2 of a mile.

The wider storm

A complex of severe thunderstorms produced wind damage and isolated tornadoes in a moist unstable environment near the junction of a warm front and approaching cold front. The tornadic circulations were embedded within the linear segments of the line of thunderstorms that moved through the area. Swaths of wind damage were reported, particularly along interstate 65 between mile markers 295 and 299 near Dodge City.

Began near Gravelly Spgs (34.8840, -87.9492).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 92866. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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