F1 tornado, Montgomery, Alabama, March 6, 1996

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.

Rating

F1

Date

March 6, 1996

Touchdown

5:12 AM CST (11:12 UTC)

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.3 million

County

Montgomery County

Touchdown point

32.380, -86.300

Lift-off point

32.380, -86.300

Record number

70

This was the first in a series of tornadoes that caused extensive damage across the southern portion of the city of Montgomery. This short tornado downed trees and power lines and damaged a number of rooftops in the Cloverdale and Normandale sections of Montgomery. The WCOV television tower was toppled by strong wind, too. Wind damage also occurred in the area of the tornado damage.

This was the second in a series of four tornadoes that occurred across the southern and eastern sections of Montgomery. This short track tornado damaged homes and businesses in the Druid Hills/Powelldale area just inside South Boulevard. Strong wind also accompanied the tornado causing some property damage.

This was the third in a series of four tornadoes that occurred across the southern and eastern sections of the city of Montgomery. The tornado occurred in the Woodley Road area of southern Montgomery just inside the South Boulevard by-pass. Trees were downed along with power lines and roof damage was caused to homes and businesses.

The fourth in a series of four tornadoes across southern and eastern Montgomery cut a swath of destruction about 4 miles in length in an area just outside the city limits of Montgomery. The tornado began in an open field just south of a small housing development called Ranchette Estates. The tornado travelled on a path toward the northeast moving across the Country Estates Mobile Home Park where two men were killed and a number of others were injured. The tornado continued toward the northeast damaging the Georgia Washington Junior High School. It ended shortly after damaging a number of houses in the Bridlebrook Farms sub-division. About 40 homes were damaged in the Bridlebrook Farms area while nearly all of the mobile homes in Country Estates were damaged or destroyed.Total path length was about 4 miles with a path width of 200 yards.This tornado actually represents the fifth damaging event that occurred in Montgomery County between 5:12 am and about 5:30 am.

The deaths

2 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 11:11 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 12:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:51 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 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.

Maxwell Afb/Montgom (MXF), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 1996 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.