Tornado, Pickens
- When
- April 8, 6:01 PM CST to 6:05 PM CST
- Where
- Pickens County, Gordo to 2 mi SE of Gordo
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 3.6 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Property damage
- $15,000
- Coordinates
- 33.280, -87.900
Tornadoes in Alabama, April 8, 1998
This was the first of three tornadoes produced by one supercell thunderstorm moving across central Alabama. The tornado began at 7:01 pm CDT just south of Gordo in extreme eastern Pickens County and traveled east-northeast moving into Tuscaloosa County around 7:05 pm CDT.
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
- 1
- Property damage
- $815,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 2
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.
This was the first of three tornadoes produced by one supercell thunderstorm moving across central Alabama. The tornado began at 7:01 pm CDT just south of Gordo in extreme eastern Pickens County and traveled east-northeast moving into Tuscaloosa County around 7:05 pm CDT. The tornado stayed mostly in rural areas crossing the swampy area of the Sipsey River and a number of small roads before crossing SR 21. It remained in rural areas crossing SR 171 and US 43. The tornado dissipated at Lake Tuscaloosa just south of where SR 69 crosses the lake.Emergency management reported that five single-family dwellings were destroyed along with major damage reported to one house and minor damage to 23 others. Eleven mobile homes were destroyed and three mobile homes were damaged. A couple from North Carolina camping at Lake Lurleen lost everything.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Tuscaloosa
- When
- April 8, 6:05 PM CST to 6:29 PM CST
- Where
- Tuscaloosa County, Holman to 1 mi N of Northport
- Rating
- F3
- Path length
- 15.9 mi
- Path width
- 300 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $800,000
- Coordinates
- 33.300, -87.850
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
- Tornadoes in Alabama, April 8, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in Georgia, April 8 to 9, 1998
- Tornado in Alabama, April 8, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Mississippi, April 8, 1998
- Tornado in Alabama, April 8, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, April 8, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in Texas, April 8, 1998
- Tornado in Louisiana, April 8, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Georgia, April 8 to 30, 1998
- Hail in Alabama, April 8, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Tennessee, April 8, 1998
- Tornado in Alabama, April 8, 1998
More
Every storm in Alabama in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 1998Warnings in Alabama, April 1998
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: 5637198, 5637199.