Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2000

F0 tornado, Downing to Fitzpatrick, Alabama, February 13, 2000

From Downing to Fitzpatrick, this F0 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Montgomery and Bullock counties on February 13, 2000, touching down at 3:30 PM CST and reaching 100 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
February 13, 2000
Touchdown
3:30 PM CST (21:30 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$20,000
Counties
Montgomery and Bullock counties
Touchdown point
32.180, -86.020
Lift-off point
32.220, -85.970
Record number
641

What the Weather Service recorded

The second of three tornadoes produced by the same supercell thunderstorm began in extreme east central Montgomery County near the town of Panther. The 3 mile path apparently began around 330 PM just west of Panther and crossed CR 36 moving into northwest Bullock County near the Piney Grove Church. The tornado crossed CR 37 near the Mt. Zion Church area and then dissipated around 335 PM. There were numerous trees snapped or uprooted along the 100 yard wide track. Beginning: 32 11.206/86 00.841 Ending: 32 12.741/85 58.371

The third of three tornadoes produced by the same supercell thunderstorm occurred just north of Fitzpatrick. The tornado track was about 1 mile long and 50 yards wide. The tornado crossed CR 7 about 2 miles north of Fitzpatrick. Several trees were uprooted or damaged. Beginning: 32 14.698/85 53.916 Ending: 32 15.155/85 52.937

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

The warnings

47 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:43 UTC, 47 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:43 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningBMX
03:34 UTC04:00 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 19:52 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

9.5 hours before the tornado, 131 km from the path. February 13, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2000-02-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN -39, lifted condensation level 715 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 2000-02-13The 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 189 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-39 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
715 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
189 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 131 km from the path. February 14, 2000.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2000-02-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 779 joules per kilogram, CIN -78, lifted condensation level 869 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 2000-02-14The 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 446 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 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
779 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1693 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
869 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
446 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
561 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.6
Supercell composite
15.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 February 13, 2000

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
February 133:00 PM CSTF1Montgomery, AL11.4300$100,000
February 133:42 PM CSTF0Bullock, AL1.050$10,000
February 134:52 PM CSTF0Faulkner, AR2.240
February 135:38 PM CSTF2Lonoke, AR32.71002
February 136:04 PM CSTF1Davidson, TN4.32001$500,000
February 138:15 PM CSTF1Washington, FL0.550$300,000
February 138:18 PM CSTF1Washington, FL0.550$750,000
February 1311:19 PM ESTF1Decatur, GA0.2501$1.0 million
February 1311:42 PM ESTF3Mitchell, GA9.230011175$20 million
February 1312:49 AM ESTF3Grady, GA15.0300715$5.0 million

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.