Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1995

F0 tornado, Lincoln, Alabama, May 9, 1995

This F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Talladega County on May 9, 1995, touching down at 7:40 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, 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
May 9, 1995
Touchdown
7:40 PM CDT (00:40 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$5,000 to $50,000
County
Talladega County
Touchdown point
33.630, -86.080
Record number
314

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado occurred in northern Talladega County about two miles northeast of Lincoln. The tornado downed numerous trees, and several structures sustained minor damage. One person was injured when she was lifted into the air and dropped while trying to reach her storm shelter. Numerous people reported seeing a funnel cloud at the time.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

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
21:40 UTC22:30 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:57 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.

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

0.7 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. May 10, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 1995-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2522 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 920 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 1995-05-10The 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 171 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 63 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
2522 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2635 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
920 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
63 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
231 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.6
Supercell composite
12.2
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z

11.3 hours after it, 82 km from the path. May 10, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1995-05-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 197 joules per kilogram, CIN -104, lifted condensation level 824 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1995-05-10The 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 190 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 64 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
197 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-104 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
190 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1995 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 9, 1995

38 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 910:15 AM CDTF1Jackson, MS1.030
May 911:05 AM CDTF0Mobile, AL0.150$500 to $5,000
May 92:30 PM CDTF0Covington, AL2.0100$5,000 to $50,000
May 93:43 PM CDTF0Muscatine, IA0.540$500 to $5,000
May 94:06 PM CDTF0Muscatine, IA0.223$5,000 to $50,000
May 94:07 PM CDTF0Muscatine, IA0.540$5,000 to $50,000
May 94:11 PM CDTF2Cedar, IA7.0100$50,000 to $500,000
May 94:29 PM CDTF0Muscatine, IA0.230$500 to $5,000
May 94:50 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.223$500 to $5,000
May 94:55 PM CDTF3Scott, IA10.073$500,000 to $5 million
May 95:01 PM CDTF0Morgan, IL0.110
May 95:05 PM CDTF0Morgan, IL0.110
May 95:17 PM CDTF1Saint Clair, IL3.050$50,000 to $500,000
May 95:17 PM CDTF1Scott, IA3.050$500 to $5,000
May 95:22 PM CDTF3Sangamon, IL50.08806$5 million to $50 million
May 95:25 PM CDTF0Bureau, IL5.073$50,000 to $500,000
May 95:35 PM CDTF0Fulton, IL0.110
May 95:40 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.230$5,000 to $50,000
May 95:40 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.230$5,000 to $50,000
May 95:40 PM CDTF0Scott, IA0.230$500 to $5,000
May 95:45 PM CDTF1Scott, IA0.540$5,000 to $50,000
May 95:48 PM CDTF0Fulton, IL3.0220
May 96:00 PM CDTF0Henry, IL0.173$5,000 to $50,000
May 96:01 PM CDTF3Bureau, IL22.0300$500,000 to $5 million
May 96:04 PM CDTF1Tazewell, IL4.02202$500,000 to $5 million
May 96:25 PM CDTF0Lee, IL0.550
May 96:38 PM CDTF0Montgomery, IL0.240
May 96:45 PM CDTF0Whiteside, IL1.073
May 97:00 PM CDTF0Montgomery, IL0.240
May 97:10 PM CDTF1DeWitt, IL13.0220$50,000 to $500,000
May 97:15 PM CDTF1Montgomery, IL0.770$5,000 to $50,000
May 97:56 PM CDTF1Shelby, IL0.110
May 98:07 PM CDTF0McLean, IL2.0220
May 98:13 PM CDTF1McLean, IL3.0220$50,000 to $500,000
May 98:30 PM CDTF0Shelby, IL1.0220
May 98:40 PM CDTF1Jackson, MS0.223
May 99:00 PM CDTF1Ford, IL5.040$5,000 to $50,000
May 911:40 PM CDTF0Hancock, MS0.323

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.