Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1990

F1 tornado, Clay County, Alabama, February 10, 1990

This F1 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Clay County on February 10, 1990, touching down at 3:55 AM CST and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 5, 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 mphthis tornado

    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
F1
Date
February 10, 1990
Touchdown
3:55 AM CST (09:55 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
5
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Clay County
Touchdown point
33.350, -85.950
Record number
32

The warnings

44 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:11 UTC, 44 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:11 UTC10:15 UTCTornado 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:36 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), 00:00Z

9.9 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. February 10, 1990.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1990-02-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 897 joules per kilogram, CIN -14, lifted condensation level 603 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 1990-02-10The 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 282 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 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
897 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-14 J/kg
Surface CAPE
138 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
603 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
282 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
340 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

2.1 hours after it, 127 km from the path. February 10, 1990.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1990-02-10Temperature 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 -11354, lifted condensation level 731 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1990-02-10The 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 -5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 86 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11354 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
731 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
86 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-60 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Anniston (ANB), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
08:00 UTC6964220° 15 kt221004.1
09:00 UTC6764240° 15 kt201003-RA FG
10:00 UTC5451310° 17 kt1008.8TSRA
10:27 UTC360° 14 kt1006.4SHRA
11:00 UTC545010° 8 kt1005.1SHRA

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1990 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of February 10, 1990

19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 102:42 AM CSTF1Shelby, AL1.030
February 104:15 AM ESTF1Carroll, GA1.5100$50,000 to $500,000
February 104:45 AM ESTF1Douglas, GA0.5200$500,000 to $5 million
February 104:55 AM ESTF1Upson, GA3.0732$50,000 to $500,000
February 104:55 AM ESTF2Cobb, GA1.32002$500,000 to $5 million
February 105:00 AM ESTF1Gwinnett, GA1.073$500,000 to $5 million
February 105:10 AM ESTF1Fulton, GA2.573$500,000 to $5 million
February 105:15 AM ESTF1Walton, GA4.0100$50,000 to $500,000
February 105:15 AM ESTF1Newton, GA2.5100$50,000 to $500,000
February 105:35 AM ESTF1Sumter, GA0.5731$500,000 to $5 million
February 106:20 AM ESTF1Oconee, SC3.0601$50,000 to $500,000
February 106:30 AM CSTF1Jackson, MS2.030$50,000 to $500,000
February 107:55 AM ESTF1Pickens, SC3.0100$50,000 to $500,000
February 108:00 AM ESTF0Greenville, SC3.080$50,000 to $500,000
February 108:00 AM ESTF2Cleveland, NC0.450$50,000 to $500,000
February 107:21 AM CSTF1Santa Rosa, FL0.223$50,000 to $500,000
February 108:38 AM ESTF1Spartanburg, SC5.050$50 to $500
February 101:20 PM ESTF1Halifax, NC15.070$50,000 to $500,000
February 104:40 PM ESTF0Dare, NC1.050

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.