Cleanup efforts are underway in Fultondale after a tornado ripped through the town Monday night. At least one person was killed, and 30 people were injured.
Kevin Laws is the chief scientist with National Weather Service in Birmingham. He said the temperature shift contributed to the strength of the storm.
“Typically, when those cold fronts come through and we’ve got that instability in place, it doesn’t matter if its day or night, just in this case it happened to be in the overnight period. These storms can really fire up and have a lot of energy to really work with, as powerful as they are in the wintertime,” he said.
He said storms like this are not uncommon this time of year in Alabama.
“Our tornado season in Alabama runs from November 1st to about May 15th. So really any time in that window you can expect tornados, day or night. In fact, it wasn’t that long ago, 2012, we had an overnight tornado, almost in the same place that turned out to be an EF-3 at the time,” Laws said.
The school superintendent says Fultondale High was so heavily damaged he doubts students will be able to return the classrooms this year.