EF-0 Tornado Confirmed in Colbert County

Posted on: 5:01 pm, March 20, 2013, by Jason Simpson

The National Weather Service in Huntsville confirmed a small, short-lived EF-0 tornado in Leighton that occurred on Monday, March 18th. Here’s the survey information:

.LEIGHTON /COLBERT COUNTY/ TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-0
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    85 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  1.6 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   100 YARDS
FATALITIES:             NONE
INJURIES:               NONE

START DATE:             3/18/13
START TIME:             2:10 PM CDT /1910 UTC/
START LOCATION:         JUST NW OF HATTON SCHOOL RD/6TH ST
START LAT/LON:          34.7293 / -87.4954

END DATE:               3/18/13
END TIME:               2:13 PM CDT /1913 UTC/
END LOCATION:           NEAR SHAW RD/6TH ST INTERSECTION
END LAT/LON:            34.7281 / -87.4673

SURVEY SUMMARY: A WEAK/SHORT-LIVED TORNADO EMBEDDED WITHIN A 
QUASI-LINEAR CONVECTIVE SYSTEM...TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 2 MILES NORTHWEST
OF THE TOWN OF LEIGHTON...SNAPPING TREES NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF 6TH 
STREET AND HATTON SCHOOL ROAD. JUST TO THE EAST OF THIS LOCATION...
MORE CONCENTRATED DAMAGE TO LARGE PINES /UPROOTED AND SNAPPED ABOUT 
HALFWAY DOWN/ OCCURRED...ALONG WITH MINOR STRUCTURAL/ROOF DAMAGE TO A 
RESIDENCE. A CAR PORT WAS LIFTED AND DESTROYED AND UNDERCARRIAGE FROM
A SINGLE-WIDE MOBILE HOME WAS PULLED OUT AND THROWN INTO A NEARBY TREE.
THE DAMAGE PATTERN AT THIS LOCATION SUGGESTED A CIRCULATION/TORNADO. 
THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO TRACK EAST...UPROOTING TREES IN AN OPEN FIELD
AND ADDITIONAL LARGE CEDAR TREES WERE SEEN SNAPPED ALONG ITS PATH AT
SHAW CEMETARY. THE TORNADO CONTINUED JUST A BIT FARTHER EAST BEFORE
APPARENTLY LIFTING JUST EAST OF SHAW ROAD...JUST NORTH OF 6TH STREET.

SOME SPORADIC INFLOW/THUNDERSTORM WIND DAMAGE WAS SEEN AROUND THIS 
NARROW TORNADO TRACK AS SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPPED ON EITHER SIDE OF 
6TH STREET HEADING TOWARD THE LAWRENCE COUNTY LINE. 

SURVEYED BY: NADLER

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES.

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH

NOTE:
THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO 
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENTS AND PUBLICATION IN NWS 
STORM DATA.