Highland Lake Tornado - April 19, 2009

Highland Lake Tornado - St. Clair/Blount Counties
April 19, 2009

Rating: (Click for EF Scale)	EF-2
Estimated Maximum Wind:	122 mph
Injuries/Fatalities:	None
Damage Path Length:	6.53 miles
Maximum Path Width:	300 yards
Approximate Start Point/Time:	33.8605/-86.4420 at 859 pm
Approximate End Point/Time:	33.8977/-86.3376 at 910 pm

A National Weather Service Damage Assessment Team has surveyed the storm damage in St. Clair and Blount County. It has been determined the damage was the result of a tornado. The tornado has been rated an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Damage estimates were consistent with winds around 120 mph.

A tornado touched down at the intersection of County Road 27 and Jones Chapel Road. The tornado traveled to the northeastward and crossed Lake Rd, County Road 29, Putman Road, Hicks Road and finally lifted just to the east of County Road 24. Along the damage path, eighteen structures were damaged or destroyed. Four structures were completely destroyed. Seven chicken houses were destroyed, displacing over 95,000 chickens. The length of the path was 6.53 miles long and at its widest point, the path was 200 yards wide.


The top image is a KBMX 0.5 degree reflectivity loop. The bottom image is a KBMX 0.5 degree storm relative velocity loop. The green indicates wind blowing toward the radar while red indicates wind blowing away from the radar. This storm is an excellent example of a bow echo. The first couple of frames in the top image illustrate the weaker reflectivities in the back side of the bow, which are indicative of a Rear Inflow Jet (RIJ), which eventually led to the book-end vortex and the eventual tornado. The Highland Lake Tornado is the first two images of the loop and the Ashville Tornado is at the end of the loop.

Remnants of a Chicken Farm	Remnants of a Chicken Farm
Roof Damage	Remnants of Chicken Farm
Roof Damage	Semi-Truck Flipped
Small Debris Pasted to the Home	Debris
Tree Snapped	Debris