F1 tornado, Linden, Alabama, February 15, 2003

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

February 15, 2003

Touchdown

8:36 PM CST (02:36 UTC)

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$90,000

County

Marengo County

Touchdown point

32.330, -87.820

Lift-off point

32.370, -87.770

Record number

4

In what was believed to be the first tornado in Alabama in 2003, a small tornado touched down briefly in the northern half of Marengo County between Linden and Demopolis. No injuries or deaths were reported with the short-lived tornado. The tornado first touched down about 1.6 miles west-northwest of Providence on the west side of US 43 and about half a mile south of County Road 44. The tornado traveled northeasterly moving across County Road 44 and through the western sections of Chickasaw State Park. Where it first touched down, two mobile homes were damaged and a number of trees were either uprooted or snapped off. The tornado damaged one house significantly on the west side of US 43 just north of Chickasaw State Park and moved across US 43 downing several more trees. The tornado ended after crossing US 43 about 2.1 miles north of Providence on the east side of US 43.The tornado was rated an F1 primarily due to the damage done to the house just north of Chickasaw State Park. The tornado path length was 2.5 miles with a width of about 80 yards. The tornado began around 8:36 pm and ended at approximately 8:40 pm.The weak tornado was produced on the north side of a bow echo. Cyclonic rotation is often induced on the north side of the center of the bow. Bow echoes are known primarily for producing downbursts or straight line wind damage but also have the capability of producing weak tornadoes as apparently happened in this case.Beg: 32 20.719/87 48.459 End: 32 22.297/87 46.702

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:36 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 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 Birmingham radar (KBMX), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:33 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 2003 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

4 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.