F0 tornado, Tabor, Alabama, March 19, 2003

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 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

F0

Date

March 19, 2003

Touchdown

1:57 PM CST (19:57 UTC)

Path length

1.1 miles (1.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Etowah County

Touchdown point

34.130, -85.880

Lift-off point

34.150, -85.870

Record number

50

A tornado touched down in a heavily wooded area near the top of the ridge that forms Lookout Mountain in northeast Etowah County. The tornado was photographed by a person in southwest Cherokee County and observed by several people on the west side of the ridge. Besides trees, no other damage occurred since it was in an extremely remote area.Beg: 34 08.438/85 52.998 End: 34 08.935/85 51.960

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:26 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:15 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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 13:10 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.

NWS Birmingham, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 19, 1:51 PM CST, 6 minutes earlier.

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM, AL
151 PM CST WED MAR 19 2003

THIS WILL BE A SHORT DISCUSSION...LOTS GOING ON HERE.

WATER VAPOR TELLS THE STORY.  DRY PUNCH NOSING MORE NORTHWARD
TOWARDS THE GREAT LAKES.  VERY EVIDENT DRY-LINE CUTTING FROM NORTH
TO SOUTH THROUGH ALABAMA.  EVERYTHING IS FIRING ALONG THIS LINE...
AND WILL CONTINUE TOO  THIS LINE IS EXPECTED TO MAKE A VERY SLOW
PROGRESSION EASTWARD...AND THEN STALL.  THE BAD NEWS IS THIS LINE
WILL BEGIN TO MOVE BACK TO THE WEST THIS EVENING...KEEPING EVERYONE
EAST OF I-65 UNDER THE GUN THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING.  NO REASON TO GO
AGAINST WHAT WE HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR THE LAST FEW DAYS ON THIS.
LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE.
EVERYTHING ON THE RADAR RIGHT NOW IS SPINNING.

BEYOND THAT...LOOKING DRY...WILL LEAVE THE EXTENDED ALONE.

BHM BB 057/079 053/072 046/068 2220
MGM BB 062/082 055/076 049/072 4440

.BHM...NONE.

JONES/90

ALZ011>015-017>050-192100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BIRMINGHAM AL
1245 PM CST WED MAR 19 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE COUNTIES SERVED BY THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN BIRMINGHAM.

.DAY ONE (THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT)...

THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER ALABAMA THROUGH TONIGHT
AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE STATE. THEY WILL BE
MAINLY EAST OF INTERSTATE 65. A FEW OF THE STORMS MAY BE STRONG TO
SEVERE...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THE SEVERE THREAT
WILL BE MAINLY CONFINED TO EAST ALABAMA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN (THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY)...

A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL REMAIN ACROSS ALABAMA THROUGH
THURSDAY NIGHT.  HOWEVER...A LACK OF DEEP MOISTURE WILL HINDER
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.  AT THIS TIME...IT APPEARS THAT THURSDAY
NIGHT WILL BE THE FAVORED PERIOD FOR ANY SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS...
AS A WEAK COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE AREA.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTERS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL
WILL BE NECESSARY AT TIMES THROUGH TONIGHT.

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 Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:58 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

9 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.