Campus Alert Archive
Auburn

A Late-December Tornado Confirmed on Radar 25 Miles From Loveliest Village: AU Campus Safety's 1:32 AM Tornado Warning Quoted the NWS Polygon, Verbatim

ALtornadoemergency notificationhigh confidence

Late on the night of Saturday, December 28, 2024, the National Weather Service in Birmingham issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern Lee County (including Auburn), northeastern Macon County, and south-central Tallapoosa County, Alabama, valid until 2:00 AM CST. At 1:32 AM CST, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Franklin, or near Tuskegee, moving northeast at 50 mph. AU Campus Safety pushed an AU ALERT message on social media — and via the campus alert system — relaying the NWS warning text verbatim: 'Confirmed tornado located near Tuskegee, moving NE at 50 mph.' The tornado moved away to the northeast and did not strike the main Auburn campus.

Alerts
1
Response
0 min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Auburn University
Public R1 · AL
~33,000 studentsAU ALERT
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTTwitter/X
Verified verbatim@AuburnSafety official Twitter/X account post (status 1873272377775190075)273 chars
Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County and the Auburn community. From NWS: Confirmed tornado located near Tuskegee, moving NE at 50 mph. HAZARD...Damaging tornado. SOURCE...Radar confirmed tornado. IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter.
Posted shortly after the NWS Birmingham tornado-warning issuance and the 1:32 AM CST radar update placing the storm near Franklin/Tuskegee.
The tweet quotes the NWS polygon text verbatim using the standard 'HAZARD / SOURCE / IMPACT' triple-line WEA-format structure used by NWS for tornado warnings.
AU Campus Safety mirrored this post on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AuburnSafety/videos/948211227402801/) and the AU ALERT system simultaneously — multi-channel emergency notification is standard practice for Auburn's severe-weather pushes.
Sent during winter break — most students were off-campus for the holidays, but campus housing residents and staff still needed shelter information overnight.
Context

Background

Late on the night of Saturday, December 28, 2024 — during Auburn University's winter break — the National Weather Service in Birmingham issued a Tornado Warning for northwestern Lee County (including Auburn), northeastern Macon County, and south-central Tallapoosa County, Alabama, valid until 2:00 AM CST on December 29. At 1:32 AM CST, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Franklin, or near Tuskegee, moving northeast at 50 mph — meaning the storm was on a track aimed directly at Auburn. AU Campus Safety pushed the alert across X/Twitter, Facebook, and the AU ALERT system simultaneously, quoting the NWS polygon text verbatim using the standard 'HAZARD / SOURCE / IMPACT' triple-line WEA-format structure. The tornado moved away to the northeast and did not strike the main Auburn campus. The December 28-29, 2024 event was a late-season Deep South tornado outbreak that produced an EF2 tornado with 115 mph peak winds in Wayne County, Mississippi and a high-end EF1 in downtown Athens, Alabama. The case is a useful counterpoint to Auburn's March 15, 2025 tornado outbreak — same alert system, same template, but a winter-break midnight warning where most students were already off-campus.
Analysis

Key Findings

AU Campus Safety mirrored its tornado-warning push across X/Twitter, Facebook, and the AU ALERT system simultaneously — multi-channel emergency notification is standard practice for Auburn's severe-weather alerts.
The verbatim WEA-format 'HAZARD / SOURCE / IMPACT' structure shows Auburn deliberately quoting the NWS polygon text rather than rewriting it — a transparency choice that lets recipients see the official NWS language.
Winter-break timing meant most students were off-campus, but the 1:32 AM CST overnight warning still required housing residents and staff to seek shelter — illustrating that campus alert systems must remain on through breaks.
Outcome
Tornado Warning expired at 2:00 AM CST on December 29, 2024 with no damage to Auburn University's main campus, which sits roughly 25 miles northeast of Tuskegee. The broader December 28-29 outbreak was a late-season Deep South event with high-end EF1 damage in downtown Athens, Alabama and EF2 damage in Wayne County, Mississippi. No reported casualties on or near Auburn campus.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Social
    AU Campus Safety on X: Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County (status 1873272377775190075)
    x.com
  2. Social
    AU Campus Safety on Facebook: Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County and the Auburn community
    facebook.com
  3. Report
    Tornadoes of December 28-29, 2024 (NWS Birmingham)
    weather.gov
  4. Source
    Tornado outbreak of December 28-29, 2024 (Wikipedia)
    en.wikipedia.org
  5. News
    Tornado Warning for Parts of Lee, Macon, Tallapoosa Co. Until 2AM (The Alabama Weather Blog)
    alabamawx.com
  6. Report
    Alabama Tornado Database 2024 (NWS Birmingham)
    weather.gov
  7. Official
    Severe Weather (Auburn Campus Safety and Security)
    auburn.edu
Tags
AlabamaAuburn UniversityAU ALERTtornadotornado-warningsevere-weatherLee-CountyTuskegeewinter-breakSECNWS-Birmingham
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion