Tornado, Chilton
- When
- March 16, 7:30 AM CST
- Where
- Chilton County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 9.7 mi
- Path width
- 77 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 32.700, -86.500
Tornadoes and Damaging Wind in Alabama, March 16, 1973
6 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind, 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
- 5
- Property damage
- $1.3 million
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 7
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, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Sumter
- When
- March 16, 10:20 AM CST
- Where
- Sumter County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 32.670, -88.180
Tornado, Hale
- When
- March 16, 10:30 AM CST
- Where
- Hale County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 4.5 mi
- Path width
- 100 yd
- Property damage
- $25,000
- Coordinates
- 32.900, -87.670
Tornado, Hale
- When
- March 16, 11:00 AM CST
- Where
- Hale County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 9.5 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 32.620, -87.670
Tornado, Shelby
- When
- March 16, 12:10 PM CST
- Where
- Shelby County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 4.3 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Injuries
- 5 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 33.280, -86.820
Tornado, St. Clair
- When
- March 16, 12:30 PM CST
- Where
- St. Clair County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 33 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 33.580, -86.280
Thunderstorm Wind, Etowah
- When
- March 16, 2:00 PM CST
- Where
- Etowah County
- Coordinates
- 34.000, -85.880
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.
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: 9978624, 9978625, 9978626, 9978627, 9978628, 9978629, 9978630.