Limestone County Tornado - December 16, 2000

Limestone County Tornadoes

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service office in Birmingham conducted a storm survey in Lawrence and Limestone Counties and identified two tornado tracks in Limestone county. Damage in Lawrence was believed caused by strong straight wind with thunderstorms Saturday.

The first tornado in Limestone County touched right on the banks of the Tennessee river about 2.9 miles south of Coxey in southwest Limestone County. The tornado travelled approximately a half mile before dissipating rapidly. One house lost a portion of a roof, two other homes sustained damage from falling trees, several boat houses and out-buildings were destroyed, and numerous large trees were downed.

The tornado occurred at 12:30 PM and ended by 12:31 PM and was rated an F1 on the Fujita Scale for tornado classification. No injuries were reported with this tornado whose track was half a mile long and about 40 yards wide. Click on the map to the right to see the track of this tornado.

The second tornado began 5.1 miles west-northwest of Athens just south of O'Neal. The tornado travelled in a northeasterly direction crossing SR 99 where several houses were damaged heavily. Continuing northeast the tornado crossed CR 63 and damaged several houses and destroyed three mobile homes just south of cross key. The tornado then crossed CR 26 and SR 127 before dissipating about 5.0 miles north of Athens.

The tornado was rated an F2 with no known injuries reported at this time. The total tornado path was 4.8 miles long and about 60 yards wide. The tornado began at 12:38 PM and dissipated at 12:44 PM. Click on the map to the right to see the track of this tornado.

A Tornado Watch which included Limestone County was in effect valid from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

A Tornado Warning was issued for Limestone county at 12:28 PM valid to 1:00 PM.

The image of the tornado was taken by Sam Todd. The photo was taken looking southeast on the shores of the Tennessee River southwest of Athens.