Tornadoes · United States · Alabama

1998 tornadoes in Alabama

50 tornadoes touched down in Alabama in 1998, 42 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 34 people and injured 275. 1 were rated F4 or EF4 and above.

1997 1999 The whole country in 1998

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

Every tornado in Alabama in 1998

February 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 22	8:00 AM CST	F0	Houston	0.3	50			$70,000

April 8 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 8	10:20 AM CDT	F1	Covington	0.1	30			$30,000
April 8	7:01 PM CDT	F3	Pickens	19.5	300		1	$820,000
April 8	7:42 PM CDT	F5	Oak Grove–Birmingham tornado	30.3	1,320	32	259	$200 million
April 8	8:23 PM CDT	F1	DeKalb	1.8	100			$100,000
April 8	8:56 PM CDT	F2	St. Clair	14.4	200	2	12	$2.0 million

April 16 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 16	7:25 PM CDT	F1	Lamar	4.9	80	$30,000
April 16	8:29 PM CDT	F0	Walker	1.8	50	$10,000
April 16	8:36 PM CDT	F0	Walker	4.6	100	$30,000
April 16	8:46 PM CDT	F1	Walker	5.5	110	$150,000
April 16	8:57 PM CDT	F0	Cullman	4.0	80	$30,000
April 16	9:04 PM CDT	F1	Cullman	5.8	90	$60,000
April 16	9:15 PM CDT	F1	Cullman	3.7	100	$70,000
April 16	9:35 PM CDT	F0	Blount	2.1	80	$10,000
April 16	9:46 PM CDT	F1	Etowah	8.4	150	$70,000
April 16	10:01 PM CDT	F1	Etowah	3.1	100	$30,000
April 16	10:35 PM CDT	F0	Cherokee	1.3	80	$30,000

April 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 17	5:15 PM CDT	F1	Covington	1.0	300			$1.0 million

April 18 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 18	4:58 PM CDT	F1	Calhoun	4.2	80	$70,000
April 18	6:24 PM CDT	F0	Chilton	1.0	30
April 18	6:45 PM CDT	F0	Dallas	0.2	30

May 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 3	5:30 PM CDT	F0	Coffee	0.3	30			$10,000

May 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 4	1:28 AM CDT	F0	Houston	0.2	30

May 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 7	6:03 AM CDT	F1	Madison	1.5	50			$100,000
May 7	6:27 AM CDT	F1	Madison	2.0	80			$110,000

May 9 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 9	7:09 PM CDT	F0	Pickens	2.2	50			$50,000
May 9	7:20 PM CDT	F0	Pickens	6.5	70			$40,000

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	3:00 PM CDT	F1	Geneva	2.5	30			$150,000

September 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 19	2:00 PM CDT	F0	Baldwin	0.1	30

September 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 27	5:55 PM CDT	F0	Baldwin	0.1	30			$3,000

September 28 16 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
September 28	8:05 AM CDT	F0	Covington	0.2	50	$10,000
September 28	8:45 AM CDT	F0	Covington	0.5	50	$30,000
September 28	1:57 PM CDT	F1	Crenshaw	2.6	30	$70,000
September 28	2:05 PM CDT	F1	Crenshaw	0.5	50	$100,000
September 28	2:06 PM CDT	F0	Pike	5.0	50	$4,000
September 28	2:10 PM CDT	F1	Crenshaw	0.5	50	$50,000
September 28	2:10 PM CDT	F1	Crenshaw	0.5	50	$50,000
September 28	2:18 PM CDT	F0	Pike	6.0	50	$4,000
September 28	2:47 PM CDT	F0	Lowndes	6.0	50	$40,000
September 28	2:53 PM CDT	F0	Bullock	7.0	70	$70,000
September 28	3:30 PM CDT	F0	Dale	0.3	30	$30,000
September 28	3:44 PM CDT	F0	Bullock	4.0	40	$10,000
September 28	5:19 PM CDT	F0	Elmore	3.0	50	$20,000
September 28	5:26 PM CDT	F0	Lee	2.0	30
September 28	8:00 PM CDT	F0	Henry	0.5	40	$70,000
September 28	8:35 PM CDT	F0	Dale	0.3	40	$150,000

September 29 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
September 29	2:30 AM CDT	F1	Geneva	1.0	60	3	$100,000
September 29	2:40 AM CDT	F1	Coffee	1.0	80		$1.5 million
September 29	2:45 AM CDT	F1	Coffee	1.0	50		$500,000
September 29	2:45 AM CDT	F1	Geneva	3.0	50		$50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama The live radar over Alabama

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.