Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2000

F0 tornado, Oak Grove, Alabama, April 3, 2000

This F0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Jefferson County on April 3, 2000, touching down at 12:44 PM CDT and reaching 40 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 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 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
April 3, 2000
Touchdown
12:44 PM CDT (17:44 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
40 yards (37 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$20,000
County
Jefferson County
Touchdown point
33.480, -87.120
Lift-off point
33.520, -87.070
Record number
151

What the Weather Service recorded

A weak tornado briefly touched down between Oak Grove and Sylvan Springs and mainly affected a rural area. Several trees were snapped off or blown down along the three mile path. A few homes received minor roof damage. The most concentrated damage was on Handley Road just off CR 46. Beginning: 33 29.227/87 06.767 Ending: 33 30.739/87 05.296

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:29 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:34 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX
02:44 UTC03:30 UTCTornado WarningBMX
17:29 UTC18:30 UTCTornado 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 Moderate 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.

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z

5.7 hours before the tornado, 46 km from the path. April 3, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL 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 162 joules per kilogram, CIN -57, lifted condensation level 777 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 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 178 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 73 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
162 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-57 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
73 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
178 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

6.3 hours after it, 46 km from the path. April 4, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL 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 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -32266, lifted condensation level 1071 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 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 -346 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 75 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
-32266 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1071 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
75 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-346 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
115 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Birmingham Municipal (BHM), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:53 UTC69.866.2170° 8 kt1011.9TS BR
16:53 UTC69.866.2150° 11 kt1009.8-TSRA BR
17:53 UTC6967150° 16 kt201007.5+TSRA BR
18:53 UTC66.264.4230° 16 kt1009.8TSRA BR

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

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:46 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 312:25 PM CDTF1Choctaw, AL11.0200$50,000
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.