Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2002

F1 tornado, Headland to Blakely, Alabama, December 24, 2002

From Headland to Blakely, this F1 tornado ran 33.0 miles across Henry and Early counties on December 24, 2002, touching down at 6:45 AM CST and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 10, and did $2.8 million 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 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.

The record

Rating
F1
Date
December 24, 2002
Touchdown
6:45 AM CST (12:45 UTC)
Path length
33.0 miles (53.1 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
10
Property damage
$2.8 million
Counties
Henry and Early counties
Touchdown point
31.350, -85.350
Lift-off point
31.470, -84.880
Record number
431

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado touched down in Headland, north of County Road 99 and U.S.Highway 431. The tornado caused extensive roof damage to several homes, businesses, and a school. It damaged six planes and a hanger at the Headland Airport. The tornado raced east-northeast, and destroyed a few barns and damaged a few mobile homes in the Tumbleton/Camp Springs area. The worst damage occurred in Haleburg where several mobile homes and barns were destroyed, with damage to a local church. Eight persons were injured, with six of them hospitalized. The tornado crossed the Chattahoochee River into Georgia. Reported by the Henry County EMA.

The tornado crossed the state line from Henry County Alabama into Early County Georgia. Its damage path extended from the Chattahoochee River northeast through Colomokee on U.S. Highway 27. The tornado destroyed one mobile home and damaged thirty others. Two persons were injured when their mobile home collapsed on them. Numerous trees and power lines were down. A state of emergency was declared. Reported by GEMA.

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

The warnings

35 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:10 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:10 UTC13:00 UTCTornado WarningTAE
12:57 UTC13:45 UTCTornado WarningTAE

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:36 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

0.8 hours before the tornado, 137 km from the path. December 24, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2002-12-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 132 joules per kilogram, CIN -145, lifted condensation level 463 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2002-12-24The 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 471 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
132 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-145 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
463 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
471 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
585 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

11.2 hours after it, 137 km from the path. December 25, 2002.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2002-12-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 174 joules per kilogram, CIN -115, lifted condensation level 446 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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2002-12-25The 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 182 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 65 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
174 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-115 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
446 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
65 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
182 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dothan Municipal (DHN), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
10:53 UTC6459160° 18 kt221005.8
11:07 UTC64.459170° 17 kt241005.8VCTS
11:22 UTC64.460.8170° 18 kt1005.4-TSRA
11:53 UTC6563170° 15 kt1005.1-RA
11:57 UTC64.462.6170° 15 kt1005.1VCTS
12:29 UTC66.264.4 1004.1TS
12:53 UTC 1008.5TS
12:59 UTC360° 20 kt1009.1
13:50 UTC360° 10 kt1008.8
13:53 UTC 1009.1VCTS
14:00 UTC 1010.2VCTS
14:13 UTC270° 10 kt1009.5
14:29 UTC 1009.5VCTS

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2002 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 24, 2002

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 242:35 AM CSTF0Washington, AL0.120$10,000
December 242:40 AM CSTF0Monroe, AL0.120$10,000
December 243:05 AM CSTF0Washington, AL0.120$10,000
December 243:20 AM CSTF0Clarke, AL0.120$10,000
December 245:25 AM CSTF0Santa Rosa, FL0.330$140,000
December 2410:10 AM ESTF1Irwin, GA0.375$250,000
December 2410:15 AM ESTF0Coffee, GA0.110$10,000
December 2410:25 AM ESTF0Jeff Davis, GA0.110$10,000
December 2410:55 AM ESTF0Bacon, GA2.0100$40,000
December 2410:55 AM ESTF0Bacon, GA0.1100$10,000
December 2411:04 AM ESTF0Appling, GA0.110
December 2411:30 AM ESTF0Brantley, GA0.110
December 2411:30 AM ESTF0Wayne, GA0.110
December 2411:43 AM ESTF1Charlton, GA0.530$100,000
December 2411:45 AM ESTF0Pierce, GA0.220$10,000
December 2411:50 AM ESTF0Charlton, GA4.250$100,000

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.