F2 tornado, Argo to Margaret, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

November 24, 2001

Touchdown

1:31 PM CST (19:31 UTC)

Path length

13.4 miles (21.6 km)

Path width

125 yards (114 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$500,000

Counties

St. Clair and Jefferson counties

Touchdown point

33.650, -86.570

Lift-off point

33.770, -86.380

Record number

52

A tornado began weakly on the east side of the Cahaba River in Trussville and damaged a dugout and fencing at the Trussville Sports Complex. The tornado downed trees as it moved northeastward crossing Deerfoot Parkway near the intersection of Interstate 59 in Trussville at 1:31 pm. The tornado followed along Interstate 59 for a short distance downing trees and causing damage to houses especially on the east side of the Interstate. The tornado crossed into St. Clair County at Argo at approximately 1:36 pm. The tornado continued on a northeast track moving primarily through rural settings with property damage along the way including a number of houses and mobile homes. The tornado ended about 5.5 miles east of Springville around 1:52 pm.The tornado was rated an F2 and was on the ground for 16 miles with a width of about 125 yards. Only one injury was reported at Argo with this tornado.Beg: 33 37.990/86 35.939 End: 33 46.089/86 22.720

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

51 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:40 UTC, 51 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.

Birmingham Municipal (BHM), 30 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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.