Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1965

F3 tornado, Colbert, Lauderdale and Limestone counties, Alabama, March 17, 1965

This F3 tornado ran 29.8 miles across Colbert, Lauderdale and Limestone counties on March 17, 1965, touching down at 7:30 AM GMT-6 and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 22, and did $50,000 to $500,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F3
Date
March 17, 1965
Touchdown
7:30 AM GMT-6 (13:30 UTC)
Path length
29.8 miles (47.9 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
22
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Colbert, Lauderdale and Limestone counties
Touchdown point
34.750, -87.670
Lift-off point
34.950, -87.200
Record number
71

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

1.5 hours before the tornado, 161 km from the path. March 17, 1965.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1965-03-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 12 joules per kilogram, CIN -167, lifted condensation level 806 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1965-03-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 530 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 94 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-167 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
806 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
94 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
530 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
473 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

10.5 hours after it, 161 km from the path. March 18, 1965.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1965-03-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -11, lifted condensation level 1674 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1965-03-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 46 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 70 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Surface CAPE
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1674 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
70 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1965 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 17, 1965

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 1712:15 AM GMT-6F2Hot Spring, AR1.0200$5,000 to $50,000
March 176:00 AM GMT-6F3Union, MS14.740010$50,000 to $500,000
March 176:30 AM GMT-6F2Alcorn, MS0.5200$5,000 to $50,000
March 177:15 AM GMT-6F3Monroe, MS8.52301$5,000 to $50,000
March 177:30 AM GMT-6F1Giles, TN0.110$50,000 to $500,000
March 178:00 AM GMT-6F1Warren, TN1.0331$5,000 to $50,000
March 178:20 AM GMT-6F2Lawrence, TN2.050$50,000 to $500,000
March 179:00 AM GMT-6F1Wilson, TN0.110$500 to $5,000
March 179:30 AM GMT-6F1White, TN2.0732$50,000 to $500,000
March 1712:00 PM GMT-5F1Morgan, TN0.110$500 to $5,000
March 1712:47 PM GMT-5F1Loudon, TN0.110$500 to $5,000
March 175:04 PM GMT-5F1Clark, OH5.230$5,000 to $50,000
March 177:45 PM GMT-5F0Dillon, SC1.030$500,000 to $5 million
March 179:50 PM GMT-5F3Jones, NC41.3100285$500,000 to $5 million

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.