Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1981

F3 tornado, Russell County, Alabama, April 1, 1981

This F3 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Russell County on April 1, 1981, touching down at 2:15 AM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 23, and did $5 million to $50 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 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
April 1, 1981
Touchdown
2:15 AM CST (08:15 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
23
Property damage
$5 million to $50 million
County
Russell County
Touchdown point
32.250, -85.400
Lift-off point
32.250, -85.380
Record number
61

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.

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), 00:00Z

8.3 hours before the tornado, 184 km from the path. April 1, 1981.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1981-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1271 joules per kilogram, CIN -38, lifted condensation level 1276 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, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1981-04-01The 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 66 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 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
1271 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2586 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1276 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
3.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Centreville/Bibb, AL (KCKL), 12:00Z

3.7 hours after it, 184 km from the path. April 1, 1981.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1981-04-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 243 joules per kilogram, CIN -120, lifted condensation level 581 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, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1981-04-01The 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 -28 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 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
243 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-120 J/kg
Surface CAPE
67 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
581 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Fort Benning (LSF), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
06:40 UTC180° 3 kt1016.6TSRA
07:00 UTC7470240° 2 kt1017.6TSRA
07:45 UTC360° 5 kt1017.6TS
08:00 UTC676510° 5 kt1017.6TS
08:23 UTC40° 4 kt1016.6TSRA
08:45 UTC20° 30 kt391013.9TSRA
09:00 UTC656210° 30 kt411014.6TSRA
09:08 UTC360° 7 kt1016.9TSRA
10:00 UTC6463120° 4 kt1016.6TSRA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1981 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 1, 1981

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 15:30 AM ESTF1Sumter, GA0.313$50,000 to $500,000
April 15:15 PM ESTF1Clay, FL3.020$5,000 to $50,000

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.