Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2000

F1 tornado, Needham, Alabama, April 3, 2000

This F1 tornado ran 11.0 miles across Choctaw County on April 3, 2000, touching down at 12:25 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $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 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
April 3, 2000
Touchdown
12:25 PM CDT (17:25 UTC)
Path length
11.0 miles (17.7 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Choctaw County
Touchdown point
31.980, -88.350
Lift-off point
32.100, -88.170
Record number
156

What the Weather Service recorded

It was determined from a National Weather Service Storm Survey that a strong F1 tornado first touched down near State Highway 17 and County Road 18 just East of Needham. The tornado tracked Northeast across large wooded areas where tree damage occurred. The tornado then crossed County Road 23 just North of Morgan Chapel where several homes sustained roof damage. The tornado continued tracking Northeast across mainly wooded areas...crossing County Road 43 just North of Mt. Sterling. Damage along this portion of the track was mainly to trees. The tornado then moved across Browns Landing Road to County Road 27 East of Mt. Sterling where the tornado lifted back into the clouds. The most substantial structural damage occurred along the track between Browns Landing Road and County Road 27.

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
02:59 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOB
04:00 UTC05:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOB
17:11 UTC17:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMOB

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 16:08 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.

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 12:00Z

5.4 hours before the tornado, 174 km from the path. April 3, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2000-04-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 431 joules per kilogram, CIN -44, lifted condensation level 560 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, Jackson, MS at 12:00Z on 2000-04-03The 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 268 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 77 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
431 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-44 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
77 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
268 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
368 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Jackson, MS (KJAN), 00:00Z

6.6 hours after it, 174 km from the path. April 4, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2000-04-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 15 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 575 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, Jackson, MS at 00:00Z on 2000-04-04The 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 -97 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 76 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
15 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
203 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
575 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
76 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-341 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

The radar

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:27 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 3, 2000

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 32:00 AM EDTF2Polk, GA6.0706$1.0 million
April 33:00 AM EDTF1Cherokee, GA7.0100$1.1 million
April 33:15 AM EDTF1Gwinnett, GA4.0150$1.5 million
April 34:55 AM EDTF1Pickens, SC3.050
April 34:04 AM CDTF1Chambers, TX2.0100$100,000
April 34:08 AM CDTF1Jefferson, TX2.0201$100,000
April 34:20 AM CDTF1Jefferson, TX1.520$3.0 million
April 35:10 AM CDTF1Calcasieu Parish, LA5.0205$100,000
April 35:45 AM CDTF1Jefferson Davis Parish, LA3.020$250,000
April 35:50 AM CDTF0Jefferson Davis Parish, LA2.010$40,000
April 36:00 AM CDTF0Acadia Parish, LA7.020$100,000
April 36:28 AM CDTF1Saint Landry Parish, LA1.0201$50,000
April 37:40 AM CDTF1West Feliciana Parish, LA0.750$1,000
April 37:45 AM CDTF1West Feliciana Parish, LA3.050$200,000
April 38:30 AM CDTF1Livingston Parish, LA0.530$50,000
April 38:40 AM CDTF1East Baton Rouge Parish, LA0.320$50,000
April 38:45 AM CDTF1Saint Helena Parish, LA6.070$50,000
April 39:00 AM CDTF0Pike, MS0.220$20,000
April 39:40 AM CDTF0Assumption Parish, LA0.120
April 311:22 AM CDTF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA0.130
April 311:39 AM CDTF1Fayette, AL3.0501$90,000
April 312:20 PM CDTF2Tuscaloosa, AL11.1300$90,000
April 312:44 PM CDTF0Jefferson, AL3.040$20,000
April 31:09 PM CDTF1Jefferson, AL5.7350$4.0 million
April 31:53 PM CDTF0Chilton, AL1.040$50,000
April 32:23 PM CDTF0Coosa, AL1.030$10,000
April 38:35 PM EDTF1Pike, GA7.550$1.0 million
April 38:30 PM CDTF0Coffee, AL0.00

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.