Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1989

F0 tornado, Randolph County, Alabama, November 15, 1989

This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Randolph County on November 15, 1989, touching down at 4:43 PM CST and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 to $50,000 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
November 15, 1989
Touchdown
4:43 PM CST (22:43 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Randolph County
Touchdown point
33.150, -85.320
Record number
817

The warnings

30 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:13 UTC, 30 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:53 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningBMX
21:39 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningBMX
22:13 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningBMX
00:50 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:16 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 177 km from the path. November 15, 1989.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1989-11-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1103 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 565 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 1989-11-15The 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 126 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1103 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
565 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Anniston (ANB), 69 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:00 UTC7365200° 10 kt1005.4
21:17 UTC200° 8 kt1005.1TSRA
22:00 UTC7267220° 12 kt201004.7
22:40 UTC190° 9 kt1003TSRA
23:00 UTC6863210° 5 kt1002.7TS FG
00:00 UTC7267210° 10 kt1003TSRA
00:36 UTC250° 35 kt451004.4TSRA

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1989 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 15, 1989

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 1511:30 AM CSTF0Poinsett, AR0.250$50,000 to $500,000
November 1512:30 PM CSTF1Lauderdale, TN4.073$5,000 to $50,000
November 1512:55 PM CSTF2Gibson, TN5.080$5,000 to $50,000
November 152:34 PM ESTF2Greenwood, SC0.72671$50,000 to $500,000
November 153:00 PM ESTF2Morrow, OH23.073$500,000 to $5 million
November 152:20 PM CSTF1Clay, AL0.5203$5,000 to $50,000
November 153:45 PM ESTF1Screven, GA1.0505$5,000 to $50,000
November 154:09 PM ESTF1Pendleton, KY0.22002$5,000 to $50,000
November 153:50 PM CSTF0Kemper, MS5.017$500 to $5,000
November 154:30 PM CSTF4Huntsville tornado, AL18.588021463$50 million to $500 million
November 156:25 PM ESTF2Coweta, GA4.0300$500,000 to $5 million
November 156:45 PM ESTF2Coweta, GA7.030014$500,000 to $5 million
November 155:55 PM CSTF1Jackson, AL1.020$50,000 to $500,000
November 157:05 PM ESTF2Floyd, GA8.05001$500,000 to $5 million
November 157:30 PM ESTF3Habersham, GA8.01,7603$500,000 to $5 million
November 157:45 PM ESTF1Bradley, TN3.030$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.