Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1992

F1 tornado, DeKalb County, Alabama, November 22, 1992

This F1 tornado ran 6.0 miles across DeKalb County on November 22, 1992, touching down at 8:00 AM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 8.

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
November 22, 1992
Touchdown
8:00 AM CST (14:00 UTC)
Path length
6.0 miles (9.7 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
8
County
DeKalb County
Touchdown point
34.450, -85.850
Lift-off point
34.570, -85.800
Record number
1223

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
14:00 UTC15:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX
14:20 UTC15:15 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 06:10 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.

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

2.0 hours before the tornado, 193 km from the path. November 22, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1992-11-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 179 joules per kilogram, CIN -35, lifted condensation level 761 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 1992-11-22The 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 414 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 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
179 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Surface CAPE
58 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
761 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
414 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
497 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.0 hours after it, 193 km from the path. November 23, 1992.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1992-11-23Temperature 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 -12652, lifted condensation level 1895 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 1992-11-23The 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 97 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 61 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
-12652 J/kg
Surface CAPE
283 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1895 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
61 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
267 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 November 22, 1992

60 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 2212:14 AM CSTF4Smith, MS40.01,76020$5 million to $50 million
November 221:22 AM CSTF1Newton, MS9.0200$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:14 AM CSTF1Webster, MS9.02002$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:15 AM CSTF2Kemper, MS27.088011$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:31 AM CSTF0Chickasaw, MS4.0100$5,000 to $50,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF1Chickasaw, MS7.01002$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF2Noxubee, MS15.044015$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:45 AM CSTF2Kemper, MS23.0880$50,000 to $500,000
November 223:20 AM CSTF0Lauderdale, MS2.0100$500 to $5,000
November 223:30 AM CSTF2Sumter, AL6.0100$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:30 AM CSTF2Pickens, AL2.01277$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:50 AM CSTF1Hardeman, TN16.07313$5,000 to $50,000
November 225:18 AM CSTF1Walker, AL10.043$500,000 to $5 million
November 226:20 AM CSTF0Morgan, AL6.017$50,000 to $500,000
November 226:55 AM CSTF2Madison, AL6.01005$500,000 to $5 million
November 228:15 AM CSTF2DeKalb, AL5.0736
November 228:15 AM CSTF2Etowah, AL12.07312
November 228:20 AM CSTF0DeKalb, AL3.0231
November 229:30 AM ESTF1Walker, GA2.0150$500 to $5,000
November 228:40 AM CSTF2DeKalb, AL to GA10.55004$50,000 to $500,000
November 228:50 AM CSTF1Tallapoosa, AL17.05010$500,000 to $5 million
November 229:30 AM CSTF1Cleburne, AL10.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 2210:44 AM ESTF4Cobb, GA20.086746$5 million to $50 million
November 2212:10 PM ESTF3Lumpkin, GA10.086717$500,000 to $5 million
November 221:04 PM ESTF2Spalding, GA10.01003$500,000 to $5 million
November 221:35 PM ESTF1Muscogee, GA4.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:06 PM ESTF1Vigo, IN0.143$5,000 to $50,000
November 222:35 PM ESTF3Monroe, IN5.38673$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:40 PM ESTF0Monroe, GA0.550$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:50 PM ESTF3Putnam, IN12.08671$500,000 to $5 million
November 222:55 PM ESTF3Morgan, IN15.0867$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:00 PM ESTF2Monroe, GA10.01001$50,000 to $500,000
November 223:07 PM ESTF1Montgomery, IN2.52001$50,000 to $500,000
November 222:10 PM CSTF0Geneva, AL2.220$5,000 to $50,000
November 223:20 PM ESTF0Henry, KY0.520$5,000 to $50,000
November 223:40 PM ESTF0Henry, KY3.040$500 to $5,000
November 223:45 PM ESTF3Marion, IN9.0433$500,000 to $5 million
November 223:45 PM ESTF4Putnam, GA32.0867586$5 million to $50 million
November 222:52 PM CSTF4Carroll, KY to IN26.760110$500,000 to $5 million
November 224:05 PM ESTF3Shelby, IN10.050$500,000 to $5 million
November 224:17 PM ESTF1Owen, KY2.020$5,000 to $50,000
November 224:20 PM ESTF2Hamilton, IN2.0100$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:23 PM ESTF1Hamilton, IN1.0100$500 to $5,000
November 224:34 PM ESTF2Bartholomew, IN5.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:40 PM ESTF1Wilkes, GA1.0501$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:45 PM ESTF2Shelby, IN7.550$50,000 to $500,000
November 224:54 PM ESTF1Madison, IN0.267$5,000 to $50,000
November 225:00 PM ESTF3Preble, OH20.050021$5 million to $50 million
November 225:15 PM ESTF1Brown, OH1.060$500,000 to $5 million
November 225:35 PM ESTF2Union, IN12.0200$500,000 to $5 million
November 225:00 PM CSTF3Lincoln, GA to SC67.040019$500,000 to $5 million
November 226:00 PM ESTF1Jay, IN0.210$5,000 to $50,000
November 226:00 PM ESTF2Saluda, SC30.0550$500,000 to $5 million
November 227:45 PM ESTF0Fairfield, SC0.610
November 228:12 PM ESTF0Fairfield, SC2.710
November 229:15 PM ESTF1Cleveland, NC5.0500$5,000 to $50,000
November 229:40 PM ESTF1Catawba, NC26.0800$50,000 to $500,000
November 2210:20 PM ESTF1Yadkin, NC31.080013$50,000 to $500,000
November 2212:05 AM ESTF1Greene, VA3.033$5,000 to $50,000
November 2212:10 AM ESTF0Madison, VA0.517$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.