{ "id": "2024-12-28-auburn-university-tornado-warning", "slug": "auburn-university-tornado-warning-2024-12-28", "institution": { "name": "Auburn University", "shortName": "Auburn", "state": "AL", "type": "public-r1", "alertSystemName": "AU ALERT", "enrollment": 33000 }, "incident": { "date": "2024-12-28", "type": "tornado", "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification", "resolution": "no-impact-confirmed", "headline": "Late-night alert relays a National Weather Service tornado warning; no campus impact", "headlinePublic": "Late-night alert relays a National Weather Service tornado warning; no campus impact", "summary": "Late on the night of Saturday, December 28, 2024, the [National Weather Service in Birmingham](https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event_12282024) 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](https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873272377775190075). 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.", "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.", "casualties": { "killed": 0, "injured": 0 } }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "timestamp": "2024-12-28T19:32:00-06:00", "channel": "twitter-x", "verbatimText": "Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County and the Auburn community. \n\nFrom NWS: Confirmed tornado located near Tuskegee, moving NE at 50 mph. HAZARD...Damaging tornado.\nSOURCE...Radar confirmed tornado. IMPACT...Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873272377775190075", "sourceDescription": "@AuburnSafety on X (verbatim)", "annotations": [ "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.", "Corrected to exact fxtwitter display text." ], "characterCount": 275 }, { "sequence": 2, "type": "all-clear", "timestamp": "2024-12-29T02:28:33-06:00", "channel": "twitter-x", "verbatimText": "The Severe weather threat has ended for the Auburn Community.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "sourceUrl": "https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873284961433788557", "sourceDescription": "@AuburnSafety on X (verbatim)", "annotations": [ "Exact text from official @AuburnSafety status after tornado warning", "Corrected to exact fxtwitter display text." ], "characterCount": 61 } ], "sources": [ { "title": "AU Campus Safety on X: Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County (status 1873272377775190075)", "url": "https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873272377775190075", "type": "official-social" }, { "title": "AU Campus Safety on Facebook: Tornado Warning in effect for Lee County and the Auburn community", "url": "https://www.facebook.com/AuburnSafety/videos/tornado-warning-in-effect-for-lee-county-and-the-auburn-community-from-nws-confi/948211227402801/", "type": "official-social" }, { "title": "Tornadoes of December 28-29, 2024 (NWS Birmingham)", "url": "https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event_12282024", "type": "after-action-report" }, { "title": "Tornado outbreak of December 28-29, 2024 (Wikipedia)", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_December_28%E2%80%9329,_2024", "type": "other" }, { "title": "Tornado Warning for Parts of Lee, Macon, Tallapoosa Co. Until 2AM (The Alabama Weather Blog)", "url": "https://www.alabamawx.com/?p=273978", "type": "local-media" }, { "title": "Alabama Tornado Database 2024 (NWS Birmingham)", "url": "https://www.weather.gov/bmx/tornadodb_2024", "type": "after-action-report" }, { "title": "Severe Weather (Auburn Campus Safety and Security)", "url": "https://www.auburn.edu/administration/campus-safety/emergency/severe_weather.php", "type": "official-archive" }, { "title": "@AuburnSafety X all-clear", "url": "https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873284961433788557", "type": "official-social" } ], "context": "Late on the night of Saturday, December 28, 2024 (during Auburn University's winter break) the [National Weather Service in Birmingham](https://www.weather.gov/bmx/event_12282024) 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](https://x.com/AuburnSafety/status/1873272377775190075), 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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_December_28%E2%80%9329,_2024) 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](https://www.auburn.edu/administration/campus-safety/emergency/severe_weather.php), same alert system, same template, but a winter-break midnight warning where most students were already off-campus.", "keyFindings": [ "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." ], "responseTimeMinutes": 0, "confidence": "high", "tags": [ "Alabama", "Auburn University", "AU ALERT", "tornado", "tornado-warning", "severe-weather", "Lee-County", "Tuskegee", "winter-break", "SEC", "NWS-Birmingham" ], "dateAdded": "2026-05-13", "lastUpdated": "2026-07-18", "addedBy": "ingestion" }