F1 tornado, Daleville to Ewell, Alabama, November 25, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F1

Date

November 25, 2001

Touchdown

12:30 AM CST (06:30 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$70,000

County

Dale County

Touchdown point

31.400, -85.580

Lift-off point

31.400, -85.580

Record number

553

A strong F1 tornado touched down just southwest of Daleville, near the northwest corner of Cairns Army Airfield at Fort Rucker. Several maintenance buildings sustained minor roof damage. One aircraft suffered minor damage from flying sheet metal. The tornado tracked northeast into Daleville and damaged 25 businesses along Highway 85, including a church, gas station, two supermarkets, a bank and several homes. It destroyed a restaurant and two industrial park buildings. The tornado lifted the roof off of the Daleville Inn and Landing Zone Lounge, causing its walls to collapse. Of the 125 patrons inside, 23 suffered minor injuries and two serious injuries. One restaurant was destroyed. Nearly 40 businesses and 1,000 residential customers lost power after the tornado toppled numerous power poles. The intersection of Highways 85 and 134 in Daleville was closed and a curfew was imposed for 24 hours. Fort Rucker damage surveyed by an off-duty Air Force meteorologist and Daleville damage surveyed by the NWS.

An F1 tornado touched down just south of Ewell and destroyed a double wide mobile home. Its two occupants were seriously injured. Damage surveyed by the NWS.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:07 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 live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

1 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.