PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
502 PM CDT Wed Mar 21 2018

…NWS Damage Survey For 3/19/18 Tornado Event…Updated…
…Lawrence County Survey Information…

.Update…Lawrence County surveys yielded three main clusters of
damage: Mount Hope, Moulton, and Speake. This occurred as a
cyclic supercell that moved from west to east-southeast across the
county. Damage in Mount Hope and Speake is attributed to (at
least) two separate tornadoes, while damage in Moulton is
attributed to straight-line wind damage of 90 MPH. More
information is below. We appreciate the assistance of the Lawrence
County Emergency Management Agency in this process.

.Mount Hope Tornado…

Rating: EF-0
Estimated Peak Wind: 80 mph
Path Length /statute/: 1.16 miles
Path Width /maximum/: 250 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start Date: 03/19/2018
Start Time: 05:54 PM CDT
Start Location: 11 N Pebble / Lawrence County / AL
Start Lat/Lon: 34.4535 / -87.4978

End Date: 03/21/2018
End Time: 04:06 PM CDT
End Location: 11 WSW Moulton / Lawrence County / AL
End Lat/Lon: 34.447 / -87.4794

Summary: A weak tornado touched down on Spruell Farm on County
Roads 35/36 in western Lawrence County. At this location, several
small fertilizer containers were blown over, and one was blown for
more than 1000 yards to the east-southeast. Further east in Mount
Hope, trees were uprooted and branches snapped along County Road
23 between Mount Hope Baptist Church and Mount Hope School. Minor
damage was noted to the bleachers at Mount Hope School as they
were dragged a couple of feet from their original location. EF-0
damage was assessed at these locations with a maximum wind here of
80mph.

.Speake Tornado…

Rating: EF-1
Estimated Peak Wind: 100 MPH
Path length /Statute/: TBD
Path width /Maximum/: 50 Yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start date: March 19, 2018
Start time: 6:18 PM CDT
Start Location: 4 WNW Speake / Lawrence County / AL
Start Lat/Lon: 34.4236 / -87.2510

End date: March 19, 2018
End time: 6:21 PM CDT
End location: Speake / Lawrence County / AL
End lat/lon: 34.4165 / -87.1688

Survey Summary: Further south and east of Moulton, damage was
again noted in the community of Speake. One cluster of damage
occurred near the intersection of Highway 36 and County Road 183.
Farther east-southeast, trees were snapped and uprooted along the
path near Speake School on Highway 36 just south of the
intersection of County Road 81 and Highway 157. Due to the trees
snapped at this location, the tornado was at its peak intensity,
EF-1, with winds around 100 mph noted. Tornado width was
approximately 50 yards. From there, the tornado lifted just SE of
Speake, continuing on to eventually produce another tornado across
the Morgan County line. No damage was noted from Speake to the
Lawrence/Morgan County line as the supercell cycled.

It has yet to be determined if the damage in Speake was the
result of one or two tornadoes. There are two distinct areas of
damage across a 4.5 mile area with a brief break between the two
approaching the damage lastly noted on County Road 81. Further
investigation will be done to finalize this decision.

.Moulton Thunderstorm Wind…

Peak wind /E/: 90 MPH
Path length /Statute/: 875 Yards
Path width /Maximum/: 725 Yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 0

Start date: March 19, 2018
Start time: 6:14 PM CDT
Start location: Moulton / Lawrence County / AL
Start Lat/Lon: 34.4741 / -87.3000

End date: March 19, 2018
End time: 6:14 PM CDT
End location: Moulton / Lawrence County / AL
End lat/lon: 34.4728 / -87.2915

Survey Summary: Sporadic tree damage was noted around the
downtown area. Multiple trees were snapped and uprooted in this
location, pulling down power lines and causing some minor damage
to roofs of homes as a result. This was assessed to be
thunderstorm winds around 90mph.

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 200mph
EF5…Violent…>200mph

NOTE:
The information in this statement is preliminary and subject to
change pending final review of the event and publication in NWS
Storm Data.