Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, November 18, 1957

Name: Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, November 18, 1957
Start: 1957-11-18T13:30
End: 1957-11-18T17:30
Location: Alabama

November 18, 1957 · 15 events in 14 counties and zones

14 tornado, 1 hail, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 4
Injuries: 53
Property damage: $3.7 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 15

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

14 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Franklin

When: November 18, 1:30 PM CST
Where: Franklin County
Rating: F2
Path length: 7.4 mi
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 34.480, -87.870

Tornado, Greene

When: November 18, 2:30 PM CST
Where: Greene County
Rating: F1
Path length: 7.6 mi
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 32.650, -87.900

Tornado, Hale

When: November 18, 2:30 PM CST
Where: Hale County
Rating: F1
Path length: 20.4 mi
Path width: 33 yd
Injuries: 5 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 32.720, -87.800

Tornado, Tuscaloosa

When: November 18, 2:45 PM CST
Where: Tuscaloosa County
Rating: F1
Path length: 3.3 mi
Path width: 33 yd
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 33.400, -87.530

Tornado, Dallas

When: November 18, 2:45 PM CST
Where: Dallas County
Rating: F1
Path length: 37.3 mi
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 32.280, -87.370

Hail, Tuscaloosa

When: November 18, 2:45 PM CST
Where: Tuscaloosa County
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Coordinates: 33.280, -87.500

Tornado, Jefferson

When: November 18, 3:30 PM CST
Where: Jefferson County
Rating: F2
Path length: 8.2 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 35 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $2.5 million
Coordinates: 33.600, -86.800

Tornado, Dekalb

When: November 18, 4:15 PM CST
Where: Dekalb County
Rating: F1
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 34.330, -85.830

Tornado, Tallapoosa

When: November 18, 4:35 PM CST
Where: Tallapoosa County
Rating: F1
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 32.950, -85.970

Tornado, Morgan

When: November 18, 5:00 PM CST
Where: Morgan County
Rating: F1
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 34.320, -86.600

Tornado, Lawrence

When: November 18, 5:00 PM CST
Where: Lawrence County
Rating: F1
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $3,000
Coordinates: 34.500, -87.200

Tornado, Cleburne

When: November 18, 5:15 PM CST
Where: Cleburne County
Rating: F1
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 33.700, -85.600

Tornado, Clay

When: November 18, 5:30 PM CST
Where: Clay County
Rating: F2
Path width: 33 yd
Property damage: $25,000
Coordinates: 33.270, -85.850

Tornado, Blount

When: November 18, 5:30 PM CST
Where: Blount County
Rating: F4
Path length: 15.8 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Deaths: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 6 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 33.980, -86.520

Tornado, Marshall

When: November 18, 5:30 PM CST
Where: Marshall County
Rating: F4
Path length: 10.3 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Injuries: 6 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $250,000
Coordinates: 34.170, -86.350

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, Jefferson	1957-11-18				Direct

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alabama in 1957 Every state in 1957 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Alabama, 1957

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 9977935, 9977936, 9977937, 9977938, 9977939, 9977940, 9977941, 9977942, 9977943, 9977944, 9977945, 9977946, 9977947, 9977948, 9977949.