Mike Wilhelm's Alabama Weather Blog

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Bamawx.com

So far there have been 14 tornadoes confirmed from Thursday 2/24/11. Kentucky had 4, Arkansas had 3, Tennessee had 3, Alabama had 2, Louisiana had 1, and Mississippi had 1. Five of these tornadoes were rated EF2. There were 258 high wind reports, according to the SPC.

There was no severe weather in my part of Huntsville, Alabama, but I did capture a bit of video as the storm rolled through.





Both tornadoes in Alabama were rated EF0, one in Marion County and one in Cullman County. Here is the data provided by the NWS Huntsville and NWS Birmingham,

Cullman:

Location: 5 NNW WEST POINT Full-screen
Local Date: 02/24/2011
Local Time: 11:10 PM CST
County: CULLMAN
State: AL
Source: NWS STORM SURVEY

AN EF-0 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 75 MPH AND A PATH WIDTH OF 20 YARDS TRACKED ABOUT ONE QUARTER MILE ON A FARM JUST EAST OF BATTLEGROUND. THE TORNADO FIRST SNAPPED AND TWISTED FOUR TALL HARDWOOD TREES BEFORE ADVANCING NORTHEAST AND DESTROYING A LARGE BUT UNOCCUPIED CHICKEN BARN. METAL AND WOOD DEBRIS WAS SHREDDED AND TWISTED AMONGST NEARBY TREES AND DAMAGED THE ADJACENT HOME AND A MOBILE HOME.

Marion:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
754 PM CST FRI FEB 25 2011

…NUMEROUS REPORTS OF SEVERE WEATHER THURSDAY NIGHT INCLUDING AN
EF-0 TORNADO IN HACKLEBURG…

ON THE EVENING OF THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH, A SQUALL LINE PASSED
THROUGH CENTRAL ALABAMA CAUSING NUMEROUS REPORTS OF STRAIGHT LINE
WIND DAMAGE THROUGHOUT THE AREA. AS PART OF THIS SQUALL LINE, THERE
WAS ONE AREA THAT RECEIVED DAMAGE THAT WOULD BE INDICATIVE OF A
BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN.

IN RESPONSE TO THIS DAMAGE, A SURVEY TEAM OF NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS COMPLETED AN ASSESSMENT OF THE AREA JUST
OUTSIDE OF HACKLEBURG IN MARION COUNTY. THESE ARE THEIR FINDINGS:

…MARION COUNTY TORNADO…

EVENT DATE: FEBRUARY 24, 2011
EVENT TYPE: EF-0 TORNADO
ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS (MPH): 75-80
INJURIES/FATALITIES: NONE
EVENT START LOCATION AND TIME: 34.2858/-87.8578 AT 1018 PM
EVENT END LOCATION AND TIME: 34.2878/-87.8482 AT 1018 PM
DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): 0.5
DAMAGE WIDTH (IN YARDS): 100

AS PART OF A SQUALL LINE, THE TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN JUST TO
THE NORTHWEST OF THE TOWN OF HACKLEBURG. TRAVELING ON THE GROUND
FOR ONLY 1/2 MILE, THE TORNADO DID CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO A NUMBER
OF CHICKEN BARNS AND OUTBUILDINGS IN THE AREA, EXTENSIVELY LIFTING
TIN ROOFS AND OVERHANGS.

WARNINGS: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING #009 WAS IN EFFECT FROM 935 PM
UNTIL 1015 PM. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING #011 WAS IN EFFECT FROM
1010 PM UNTIL 1100 PM. TORNADO WARNING #004 WAS IN EFFECT FROM
957 PM UNTIL 1030 PM.

WATCHES: TORNADO WATCH #017 WAS IN EFFECT FROM 830 PM, FEBRUARY 24TH
UNTIL UNTIL 2 AM, FEBRUARY 25TH.

FOR A COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF SEVERE REPORTS ACROSS THE REST OF
CENTRAL ALABAMA, PLEASE SEE THE LOCAL STORM REPORTS.