Tornado, Blount
- When
- December 29, 2:55 PM CST
- Where
- Blount County
- Rating
- F1
- Path width
- 30 yd
- Property damage
- $250
- Coordinates
- 33.900, -86.750
Tornadoes and Hail in Alabama, December 29, 1973
6 tornado, 4 thunderstorm wind, 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 14
- Property damage
- $7.8 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 11
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
6 tornado, 4 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm Wind, Shelby
- When
- December 29, 4:00 PM CST
- Where
- Shelby County
- Coordinates
- 33.300, -86.700
Hail, Walker
- When
- December 29, 4:12 PM CST
- Where
- Walker County
- Measured
- 0.75 in hail
- Coordinates
- 33.800, -87.300
Tornado, Coffee
- When
- December 29, 4:25 PM CST
- Where
- Coffee County
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 5.9 mi
- Path width
- 67 yd
- Injuries
- 11 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 31.320, -85.900
Tornado, Dale
- When
- December 29, 4:25 PM CST
- Where
- Dale County
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 5.7 mi
- Path width
- 67 yd
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 31.330, -85.800
Tornado, Jefferson
- When
- December 29, 4:35 PM CST
- Where
- Jefferson County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Coordinates
- 33.720, -86.730
Thunderstorm Wind, Clay
- When
- December 29, 5:00 PM CST
- Where
- Clay County
- Coordinates
- 33.300, -85.800
Tornado, Dekalb
- When
- December 29, 5:15 PM CST
- Where
- Dekalb County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 0.3 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 34.280, -86.020
Tornado, Henry
- When
- December 29, 6:40 PM CST
- Where
- Henry County
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 15 mi
- Path width
- 70 yd
- Injuries
- 2 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $2.5 million
- Coordinates
- 31.350, -85.350
Thunderstorm Wind, Shelby
- When
- December 29, 7:00 PM CST
- Where
- Shelby County
- Coordinates
- 33.180, -86.500
Thunderstorm Wind, Coosa
- When
- December 29, 8:00 PM CST
- Where
- Coosa County
- Coordinates
- 32.870, -86.230
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.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
- 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
More
Every storm in Alabama in 1973Every state in 1973This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 1973
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: 9978220, 9978221, 9978222, 9978223, 9978224, 9978225, 9978226, 9978227, 9978228, 9978229, 9978230.