An EF-1 tornado touched down briefly near Vinemont during Monday’s storm, but the rare occurrence was the size and force of the hail.
The magnitude of the hail storm, which included one spiked hail stone measuring 5.25 inches in diameter, was rare for Alabama and the Southeast, said Chris Stumpf, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Huntsville.
“This was rare for this region, but what happened was two storm systems collided and began moving rapidly, keeping the hail with it as it moved through the area,” Stumpf said. “One system formed in Winston County around Bankhead Forest and met the other system coming from Lawrence and Morgan counties in northwest Cullman County.”
While that system moved rapidly through Cullman County, two smaller ones followed, making the length of the storm seem longer to residents, he said.
The widespread damage from the hail can be attributed to speed and size.
“With the size of the hail and the strength of the merged storm systems, some of the hail was descending at speeds close to 130 miles per hour,” Stumpf said.
The tornado that was confirmed spent more time in Morgan County and lifted around the Vinemont area and left, he said.
by David Palmer, The Cullman Times
March 22, 2018
