Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1992

F3 tornado, Hale and Greene counties, Alabama, March 10, 1992

This F3 tornado ran 18.0 miles across Hale and Greene counties on March 10, 1992, touching down at 2:05 AM CST and reaching 440 yards wide. It killed 2 people and injured 7, 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 10, 1992
Touchdown
2:05 AM CST (08:05 UTC)
Path length
18.0 miles (29.0 km)
Path width
440 yards (402 m)
Deaths
2
Injuries
7
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
Counties
Hale and Greene counties
Touchdown point
32.580, -87.820
Lift-off point
32.700, -87.480
Record number
78

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:43 UTC08:45 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:30 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

8.1 hours before the tornado, 51 km from the path. March 10, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 00:00Z on 1992-03-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 110 joules per kilogram, CIN -16, lifted condensation level 1411 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 1992-03-10The 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 172 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
110 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Surface CAPE
31 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1411 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
172 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
306 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

3.9 hours after it, 51 km from the path. March 10, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Centreville/Bibb, AL at 12:00Z on 1992-03-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 11 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 578 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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 1992-03-10The 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 -79 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 88 knots.1939587897117136156Sfc1 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
578 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
88 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-150 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Tuscaloosa Municipal (TCL), 64 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
07:00 UTC7061170° 14 kt1003.7-RA
08:00 UTC6762280° 20 kt281005.1TSRA
09:00 UTC6132210° 5 kt1004.1-RA
10:00 UTC6231.1210° 7 kt1003.7

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1992 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 10, 1992

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 1012:57 AM CSTF3Lauderdale, MS20.01,760357$500,000 to $5 million
March 108:10 PM ESTF0Alexander, NC0.230$5,000 to $50,000
March 109:07 PM ESTF2Mecklenburg, NC3.418018$500,000 to $5 million
March 109:55 PM ESTF1Cabarrus, NC0.5303$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.