EF1 tornado in Marion County, Alabama

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in southwest Marion County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 110 mph. The tornado crossed into Marion County from Lamar County near Reese Road and produced mostly uprooted softwood trees as it tracked eastward near the Marion/Fayette County line. The tornado began a slight shift to the northwest and rapidly intensified as it approached the city of Winfield. The tornado produced EF1 damage in the downtown sections of Winfield. Several businesses sustained roof and structural damage with windows being blown out of others. A strip mall lost a large section of its roof structure. The tornado narrowed fairly rapidly as it exited downtown and began to weaken as it moved through more residential areas east of downtown. Damage east of downtown consisted of mostly uprooted softwood trees, but a few homes sustained minor roof damage near the intersection of Bankhead Highway and Dove Street.

A line of storms with embedded supercells developed south of an outflow boundary ahead of a slow-moving cold front, producing damaging winds and several tornadoes across the northern portions of central Alabama during the evening hours on December 29th. The surface boundary shifted into the southern counties of central Alabama on December 30th. The low level shear was not favorable for tornadoes, but the storms were robust enough to produce damaging winds and large hail.