F1 tornado, Andalusia, Alabama, March 13, 1999

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 13, 1999

Touchdown

8:30 PM CST (02:30 UTC)

Path length

9.0 miles (14.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Covington County

Touchdown point

31.300, -86.480

Lift-off point

31.300, -86.480

Record number

219

A F1 tornado (winds 74 to 112 mph on the Fujita Scale) skipped along and just south of County Road 70 Northeast of Andalusia. The tornado touched down several times along its 9 mile path. The most significant structural damage occurred off Highway 331 where four chicken facilities suffered major damage. 400 chickens were killed, a porch was torn off a house, tin was ripped off several out buildings and numerous trees were blown down. An eyewitness said he saw a funnel about 100 feet off the ground after one of his chicken houses was destroyed. A gas station in the same area had its roof blown off. Along County Road 77, just south of County Road 70, several houses suffered roof damage with shingles blown off. A couple of out buildings were blown away and numerous trees were blown down. A church building nearby also suffered damage.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:06 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 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 00:58 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 live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.