May 6, 2009
7:59 AM2.0 ENE Greenbrier - 2.7 NW Oakwood College A tornado touched down along Segers Road in eastern Limestone C ounty, snapping and uprooting numerous large trees. A tree fell on a mobile home on Hardiman Road and split it in half. Peak wind speed was estimated at 115 mph with a path width of 75 yards. The tornado continued northeast into Madison County. Significant tree damage occurred in several subdivisions along County Line Road, Mill Road, Browns Ferry, Wall Triana Highway, Hughes Road and Slaughter Road. Windows were blown out of several houses in the Huntington Chase S ubdivision along with significant roof damage. A large attached garage was completely flattened along Browns Ferry Road and roof damage was observed in the Bridgefield S ubdivision. Several residents of the Bridgefield S ubdivision noted that they received the tornado warning and took cover before the storm hit. The tornado tracked through the parking lot of West Madison Elementary School, knocking large pine trees down onto apartment buildings and a home adjacent to the school. The tornado then tracked through the Wellington S ubdivision producing tree and roof damage. Sporadic damage persisted as the tornado moved northeast across Hughes Road, atop Rainbow Mountain, and across Slaughter Road into northwest Huntsville and the Providence D evelopment. The tornado finally lifted near Research Park and Plummer Road. Start: 34.683/-86.819 End: 34.777/-86.665
NWS EF Scale: F2
A tornado touched down along Segers Road in eastern Limestone county, snapping and uprooting numerous large trees. A tree fell on a mobile home on Hardiman Road and split it in half. Peak wind speed was estimated at 115 mph with a path width of 75 yards.
Strong thunderstorms erupted around Midnight on the 6th in northwest Alabama and tracked across portions of north Alabama. The storms produced one to three inches of rainfall in parts of Lawrence, Morgan, Cullman and Marshall Counties resulting in a few instances of flash flooding. Following this first round of thunderstorms, a vigorous quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) advanced eastward from northern Mississippi into northwest Alabama before sunrise. This system strengthened as it encountered increasing instability. Given high amounts of low level wind shear, a break in the line resulted as a strong comma head / mesocyclone developed. This storm evolved into its own miniature supercell spawning three tornadoes along its track from eastern Lawrence through Morgan, Limestone and Madison Counties. The tornado in Limestone and Madison County produced up to EF2 damage along its 10.9 mile track, narrowly missing an elementary school, high school, and two churches in Madison. Other reports of thunderstorm wind damage were received with these storms.
Part of 12-tornado outbreak on May 6, 2009
Strong thunderstorms erupted around Midnight on the 6th in northwest Alabama and tracked across portions of north Alabama. The storms produced one to three inches of rainfall in parts of Lawrence, Morgan, Cullman and Marshall Counties resulting in a few instances of flash flooding. Following this first round of thunderstorms, a vigorous quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) advanced eastward from northern Mississippi into northwest Alabama before sunrise. This system strengthened as it encountered increasing instability. Given high amounts of low level wind shear, a break in the line resulted as a strong comma head / mesocyclone developed. This storm evolved into its own miniature supercell spawning three tornadoes along its track from eastern Lawrence through Morgan, Limestone and Madison Counties. The tornado in Limestone and Madison County produced up to EF2 damage along its 10.9 mile track, narrowly missing an elementary school, high school, and two churches in Madison. Other reports of thunderstorm wind damage were received with these storms.