Alabama, 1997

Tornado in Alabama, January 24, 1997

January 24, 1997 · NWS BMX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A weak tornado touched down in the William B. Bankhead National Forest and tracked across Highway 33 at the lookout tower.

Where it happened

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
Crop damage
$8,000
Events
1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.

A weak tornado touched down in the William B. Bankhead National Forest and tracked across Highway 33 at the lookout tower. The majority of damage was done to trees and some damage was done to the Forest Service buildings at the tower.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Lawrence

When
January 24, 2:50 PM CST to 2:55 PM CST
Where
Lawrence County, 10 mi S of Moulton
Rating
F1
Path length
3 mi
Path width
75 yd
Property damage
$40,000
Crop damage
$8,000
Coordinates
34.330, -87.280

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Alabama in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 1997Warnings in Alabama, January 1997

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: 5591435.