Henagar tornado rated EF-3 in storm survey
Alabama was struck by not one but two EF-3 tornadoes during Wednesday’s round of severe weather.
The National Weather Service in Huntsville was still doing storm surveys on Friday and added two tornadoes to the five confirmed already in Alabama.
The Henagar tornado, which prompted a rarely-used tornado emergency warning for DeKalb County on Wednesday night, was given a preliminary rating of “at least” EF-2 in an early storm survey. But the weather service was later able to survey the entire track and raised the rating to EF-3 on Friday.
The Henagar storm had top winds estimated at 140 mph. The tornado was 1.13 miles wide at its peak, according to the weather service. At least seven injuries were blamed on the storm, which was on the ground for more than 12 miles.
The other EF-3 tornado was in Brigadoon in Limestone County. It had top winds estimated at 136 mph.
Already confirmed by the weather service were three other tornadoes:
* An EF-1 in the Five Points area of Huntsville in Madison County
* An EF-2 in Gurley in Madison County
* An EF-0 at Rainbow Mountain in Madison County
Added to the tornado count on Friday was:
* An EF-1 near Henagar in the Brooks Crossroad community in DeKalb County (it hit less than an hour after the EF-3 tornado)
* An EF-0 in Scottsboro in Jackson County
The Wednesday tornado count could still climb. The weather service said a storm survey is planned near Elkmont in Limestone County for Saturday.