Sumter County tornado confirmed

Published 12:00 am Thursday, April 29, 2010

CALERA, Ala. (AP) — A storm survey team with the National Weather Service’s Calera office confirmed that an EF-0 tornado briefly touched down in Sumter County.

The weather service says a fire official reported the twister, with peak wind speeds of 70-80 mph. The tornado touched down around 10:44 a.m. Saturday near the Ward community. There were no reports of damage that could be directly linked to a tornado.

Michael Coyne, the meteorologist in charge of the Huntsville office of the weather service, says an EF-3 tornado in Albertville weakened north of Geraldine and formed into a second EF-3 tornado in Mentone.

Meteorologist Kristina Sumrall said storm survey crews from the Calera office will try to determine if another tornado passed through Etowah County.