Alabama night tornado claims first life of 2021

[James Wilson]

A strong tornado hit Alabama after dark last night resulting in as of now 28 injuries and the first death of 2021. Seems like there is always an early killer in Dixie each year.
James Spann' friend lost his house during this tornado.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1353944489426100224

https://twitter.com/x/status/1353954918084833280

https://twitter.com/x/status/1353968683467550726

 

[Mikayla Norris]

NWS Birmingham just posted an update to their Twitter saying at least high end EF2 damage, but surveys are still on going. Local media is also reporting the death was a 14 year old high school student who had taken shelter with his family in their basement. A tree apparently fell on the house, which caused it to collapse into the basement. The student's family members are in the hospital with critical injuries. A very sad situation.

 

[James Wilson]

The damage looked bad and with people still trapped when I posted this I was concerned for more injuries and deaths. Sad for the 14yo and his family ... hope the rest pull through. Man talk about bad luck on the tree falling on them. :-(

 

[Ethan Schisler]

Looks like it has been upgraded to a preliminary EF3. No other information is available yet. Fultondale EF3 Tornado - January 25, 2021

 

[Mikayla Norris]

"This event will be reviewed as the formation of this tornadic storm was particularly interesting given the overall environment. A few small-scale factors, perhaps not present elsewhere, appear to have come together to allow this storm to produce such a tornado."

Interesting quote from the event page. Hopefully the results of their review will be easy to find once complete, as I would be interested to see what they find. I've noticed it can be difficult to track things down on the NWS web page once they disappear from the main news headline section.

 

[Mark Jack]

NWS has updated the width of the path.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1354578166803812352