Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 1999

F0 tornado, Russellville, Alabama, January 22, 1999

This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Franklin County on January 22, 1999, touching down at 3:39 PM CST and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
January 22, 1999
Touchdown
3:39 PM CST (21:39 UTC)
Path length
0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Franklin County
Touchdown point
34.580, -87.820
Lift-off point
34.580, -87.820
Record number
9

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado briefly touched down in a rural area near Frankfort along CR 49. No damage or personal injury were reported.

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

The warnings

18 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:21 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:10 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:12 UTC20:00 UTCTornado WarningBMX
21:21 UTC22:10 UTCTornado WarningBMX
23:27 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningBMX
01:08 UTC07:10 UTCFlash Flood WarningBMX
02:01 UTC02:35 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 10:49 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), 12:00Z

9.7 hours before the tornado, 183 km from the path. January 22, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1999-01-22Temperature 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 -30144, lifted condensation level 605 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 1999-01-22The 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 239 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
-30144 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
605 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
294 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

2.3 hours after it, 183 km from the path. January 23, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 1999-01-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 508 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 767 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, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 1999-01-23The 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 456 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 58 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
508 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1284 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
456 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
644 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.6
Supercell composite
12.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Muscle Shoals Regional (MSL), 27 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC6759140° 16 kt231005.1-TSRA
20:53 UTC6560140° 9 kt1005.1-TSRA
21:45 UTC62.660.8200° 8 kt211004.7
21:53 UTC6261 5 kt141005.8+FC -TSRA
22:02 UTC64.460.8150° 6 kt1005.1
22:07 UTC62.660.8150° 10 kt1005.4
22:13 UTC62.660.8150° 12 kt1005.1
22:21 UTC62.660.8150° 10 kt1005.1
22:41 UTC64.460.8190° 12 kt221006.8
22:53 UTC63610° 0 kt1004.7-TSRA
23:30 UTC62.662.6150° 5 kt1005.8

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 22, 1999

42 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 2212:52 AM CSTF1Ballard, KY1.01006$200,000
January 221:00 AM CSTF1McCracken, KY1.31002$500,000
January 221:15 AM CSTF2Pope, IL1.5150$800,000
January 221:50 AM CSTF1Union Parish, LA to AR21.040$3,000
January 222:25 AM CSTF1Grant, AR3.0100
January 223:20 AM CSTF3Benton, TN15.022015$1.0 million
January 224:15 AM CSTF3Montgomery, TN4.38805$73 million
January 224:25 AM CSTF1Shelby, TN3.5100$300,000
January 224:43 AM CSTF2Humphreys, TN4.02201$500,000
January 225:02 AM CSTF0Red River Parish, LA10.70
January 225:10 AM CSTF0DeSoto, MS2.00$50,000
January 225:49 AM CSTF1Bienville Parish, LA20.50
January 225:52 AM CSTF1Jackson Parish, LA21.90
January 226:22 AM CSTF1Lincoln Parish, LA11.940
January 228:23 AM CSTF0Chicot, AR1.550
January 229:25 AM CSTF0Jefferson, MS1.050$3,000
January 229:45 AM CSTF0Claiborne, MS1.050$3,000
January 2210:15 AM CSTF0Hinds, MS1.050$3,000
January 2210:20 AM CSTF0Holmes, MS1.050$3,000
January 2210:30 AM CSTF0Newton, TX1.010$30,000
January 2210:40 AM CSTF0Vernon Parish, LA1.010$30,000
January 2210:58 AM CSTF0Hinds, MS1.050
January 2211:25 AM CSTF0Chester, TN0.110
January 2212:05 PM CSTF0Hardeman, TN0.110
January 2212:09 PM CSTF0Natchitoches Parish, LA3.00
January 2212:10 PM CSTF0Grant Parish, LA3.820
January 2212:35 PM CSTF1Alcorn, MS5.050$70,000
January 221:15 PM CSTF0Concordia Parish, LA1.050
January 222:32 PM CSTF0Carroll, MS1.050
January 222:40 PM CSTF0Warren, MS4.050$3,000
January 223:00 PM CSTF0Holmes, MS1.050
January 223:15 PM CSTF0Prentiss, MS0.220$10,000
January 223:43 PM CSTF0Colbert, AL1.030
January 224:43 PM CSTF0Morgan, AL0.330
January 224:52 PM CSTF0Fayette, AL0.230$10,000
January 225:10 PM CSTF1Bowie, TX0.30$40,000
January 225:10 PM CSTF0Lee, MS0.110
January 225:15 PM CSTF1Winston, AL1.50$90,000
January 225:15 PM CSTF0Pike, MS0.120$10,000
January 225:20 PM CSTF0Prentiss, MS0.110
January 225:45 PM CSTF0Lawrence, MS1.00$10,000
January 227:35 PM CSTF0Miller, AR3.60

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.