F1 tornado, Allgood to Gallant, Alabama, November 10, 2002

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 10, 2002

Touchdown

10:22 PM CST (04:22 UTC)

Path length

10.6 miles (17.1 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

Counties

Blount and Etowah counties

Touchdown point

33.900, -86.520

Lift-off point

33.920, -86.330

Record number

460

The F1 rated Oneonta Tornado began at 10:22 pm, about 1.4 miles southwest of Allgood just west of State Route (SR) 75. The tornado traveled across Allgood, downing trees and doing some damage to structures. It traveled across Boat Landing Road where trees were downed and then crossed Springville Boulevard where several structures were damaged. The tornado then clipped the southeastern sections of Oneonta before turning more easterly.The tornado crossed County Road 29, where two more structures were damaged, and then crossed US Highway 231. Additional trees were downed along Montgomery Drive. The tornado continued to down trees as it dissipated just after moving into Etowah County, ending at 10:32 pm.The path length of this tornado was 10.6 miles, with a width of about 300 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported. However, Blount County Emergency Management did report that two cows were killed by falling trees.Beg: 33 53.764/86 31.771 End: 33 56.588/86 21.437

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:03 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:45 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 High Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:23 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.

Gadsden Municipal (Awos) (GAD), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:22 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

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

63 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 64 of them

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.