F4 Highland Lake–Oneonta tornado, Alabama, November 24, 2001

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F4

Date

November 24, 2001

Touchdown

1:19 PM CST (19:19 UTC)

Path length

10.1 miles (16.3 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

22

Property damage

$1.1 million

Counties

Blount and Etowah counties

Touchdown point

33.920, -86.430

Lift-off point

34.030, -86.300

Record number

655

The F4 tornado first touched down in the vicinity of the Mt. Carmel Church, south of US 231 on CR 29, where several trees were snapped off. The tornado tracked northeast and produced extensive F2-type damage to homes and trailer homes along Tidwell Road where several injuries occurred. All trees in the neighborhood were snapped mid-trunk. As the tornado crossed US 231, it completely destroyed a frame house with F4 magnitude damage. Large trees around the house were uprooted and snapped at mid-trunk. From there, the tornado continued moving northeast and produced it's worst, F4 magnitude damage, between Robbins Lake and Airport Road. Large trees were completely snapped off at ground level; two tandem-wheel dump trucks were overturned, and moved or rolled 30 yards; several storage containers filled with construction supplies and equipment were rolled up to 50 yards; a large bulldozer was moved 5 feet; a large pole-barn building was completely obliterated.The tornado continued northeast across Robbins Field, then across an unpopulated area, until it entered western Etowah County in the town of Altoona. One church was also destroyed. The tornado affected the south and east sections of Altoona. The tornado descended a steep hill and downed an entire stand of pine trees at mid-trunk. Several homes and trailer-homes were damaged or destroyed, including a well-constructed $250,000 home which was completely destroyed, the third occurrence of F4 magnitude damage. The tornado crossed SR 132, ascending a steep hill, and dissipated. At it's widest point, the tornado was approximately one-quarter mile wide. Debris was scattered several miles past the end of the tornado track. Beg: 33 55.619/86 25.749 End: 34 02.107/86 18.754

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:56 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:45 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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:34 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 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

57 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.