F0 tornado, Vinemont to Good Hope, Alabama, November 24, 2001

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.

Rating

F0

Date

November 24, 2001

Touchdown

1:02 PM CST (19:02 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1,000

County

Cullman County

Touchdown point

34.100, -86.880

Lift-off point

34.100, -86.870

Record number

539

North of Cullman damage was reported at Terri Pines Country Club and in the town of Vinemont. At Terri Pines several tall trees were damaged, either uprooted or snapped off at mid-trunk. One witness at the golf course reportedly saw a funnel; another witness reported a sudden end to a downpour, the sky turning black, then a sudden return of the downpour with the sky becoming lighter. From the golf course, the storm moved northeast. The tornado appeared to have lifted or weakened as it crossed I-65 with only minimal debris from the trees along the road. The tornado continued northeasterly to Vinemont just west of US 31 and south of CR 1292. The tornado reached F1 strength destroying 2 chicken barns and severely damaging a third, scattering debris at least a mile away. A mobile home downhill from the chicken barns had parts of it's roof torn off, and there were several holes in the side of the mobile home caused by debris projectiles. The final damage along the track was to a frame garage which was shifted off it's slab in a twisting motion causing it to collapse on itself. Witnesses at this location reported hearing a load roaring noise similar to a jet aircraft. At it's widest point, the tornado was approximately 200 yards wide. The total length of the path was about 2.1 miles. Beg: 33 13.049/86 53.578 End: 34 14.568/86 52.260

At the rest area on Interstate 65, south of Cullman, a funnel cloud had been reported at 1257 pm. At the Shell Station just off I-65, a witness reported another funnel cloud off to the west around 1 pm. Another witness reported a brief touchdown in a rural area with only a few trees blown down. Beg: 34 07.049/86 52.536 End: 34 07.190/86 52.365

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

21 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:41 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:30 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.