1 NE Pitts Airport - 1 ESE Sougahatchee Lake National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in North Central Lee County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF-1 tornado. The tornado touched down along Cunningham Drive, just northeast of the Auburn Regional Airport. Minor damage occurred at touch down but increased in the Pepperell area at U.S. Highway 280 and Pepperell Parkway. Several trees were snapped or uprooted and some homes suffered damage. The tornado continued north northeast where it snapped and uprooted numerous trees. The tornado lifted near Northgate Drive and Oak Bowery Road in Northwest Opelika. The tornado was 3.09 miles long and was 540 yards wide at its widest point. The tornado was rated an EF-1 with maximum winds around 95 mph. Thanks to Lee County EMA for their assistance with this survey. Start: 32.6262/-85.4207 End: 32.6677/-85.4015

NWS EF Scale: F1

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in central Lee County and determined that the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum sustained winds near 95 mph. The tornado touched down along Cunningham Drive, just northeast of the Auburn-Opelika Airport and tracked northeast. Minor damage occurred at touch down but increased as the tornado approached Pepperell Parkway, where numerous trees were snapped or uprooted and some homes suffered damage. The tornado lifted near Northgate Drive and Oak Bowery Road.

After over a week of near-record to record high temperatures, several upper-level disturbances followed by a strong upper-level low pressure system produced multiple rounds of severe weather across Central Alabama. This system was characterized by strong upper-level winds and very cold upper-level temperatures. The first round produced one brief, weak tornado in St. Clair County on the evening of January 19. The second round occurred on the morning of January 20 with 12 tornadoes across Marengo, Elmore, Macon, Lee, Pike, and Barbour Counties. A third round produced damaging straight line winds on the night of January 21, including in the Birmingham metro area where the Birmingham airport measured a 75 mph wind gust and in Oneonta where 80 mph straight-line winds caused significant damage. A brief tornado also occurred in Tuscaloosa County with this activity. Finally, a fourth round moved through during the day on January 22 with 3 tornadoes across Bullock and Lee Counties.

Part of 5-tornado outbreak on January 22, 2017