Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1973

F2 tornado, Marshall and DeKalb counties, Alabama, May 8, 1973

This F2 tornado ran 29.1 miles across Marshall and DeKalb counties on May 8, 1973, touching down at 5:10 AM CDT and reaching 900 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 12, and did $500,000 to $5 million 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 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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
F2
Date
May 8, 1973
Touchdown
5:10 AM CDT (10:10 UTC)
Path length
29.1 miles (46.8 km)
Path width
900 yards (823 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
12
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
Counties
Marshall and DeKalb counties
Touchdown point
34.280, -86.280
Lift-off point
34.480, -85.830
Record number
327

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), 00:00Z

10.2 hours before the tornado, 201 km from the path. May 8, 1973.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1973-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -223, lifted condensation level 1381 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 00:00Z on 1973-05-08The 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 272 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-223 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1381 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
272 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
442 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

1.8 hours after it, 201 km from the path. May 8, 1973.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1973-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 55 joules per kilogram, CIN -54, lifted condensation level 855 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 1973-05-08The 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 63 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
55 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Surface CAPE
683 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
855 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
63 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1973 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 8, 1973

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 84:05 AM CDTF2Winston, AL2.0500$50,000 to $500,000
May 86:00 AM CDTF1Wayne, MS0.5300$50,000 to $500,000
May 87:57 AM CDTF1Monroe, AL0.1102$50,000 to $500,000
May 83:10 PM EDTF2Franklin, OH17.367$50,000 to $500,000
May 86:00 PM EDTF0Cuyahoga, OH0.327$500 to $5,000
May 89:00 PM CDTF1Hancock, IL0.110

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.