Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2004

F0 tornado, Athens, Alabama, March 5, 2004

This F0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Limestone County on March 5, 2004, touching down at 9:28 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
March 5, 2004
Touchdown
9:28 PM CST (03:28 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Limestone County
Touchdown point
34.770, -86.880
Lift-off point
34.770, -86.870
Record number
733

What the Weather Service recorded

A short lived tornado touched down and moved east-northeast to near east Limestone school. A few trees were twisted and uprooted in its path. Maximum wind speeds of the tornado was around 70 miles an hour.

Another short lived tornado touched down near the Limestone Correctional Facility. Damage was principally confined to the roof and one wall of a wooden outbuilding at the Limestone Correctional Institute, a few isolated downed pine trees, and damage to some shingles and eave facings.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:17 UTC08:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningHUN
02:25 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUN
03:15 UTC03:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUN
03:31 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WarningHUN

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:08 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

3.5 hours before the tornado, 153 km from the path. March 6, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2004-03-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -25210, lifted condensation level 545 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2004-03-06The 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 156 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 89 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25210 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
545 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
89 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
156 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
361 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
2.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

8.5 hours after it, 153 km from the path. March 6, 2004.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2004-03-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 619 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2004-03-06The 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 -200 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 115 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
619 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
115 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-200 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-153 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 74 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:30 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
02:45 UTCFLASH FLOODArdmoreLimestone, ALUNDERPASS AT HIGHWAY 53 AND TENNESSEE 7 ON STATE LINE REPORTED UNDERWATER.
02:45 UTCFLASH FLOODArdmoreLimestone, ALUNDERPASS AT HIGHWAY 53 AND TENNESSEE 7 ON STATE LINE REPORTED UNDERWATER.
03:22 UTCTSTM WND DMGAthensLimestone, ALPOWER LINES DOWN IN ATHENS
03:22 UTCTSTM WND DMGAthensLimestone, ALPOWER LINES DOWN IN ATHENS
03:23 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N AthensLimestone, ALTRAILER DAMAGED ON HIGHWAY 127
03:23 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 N AthensLimestone, ALTRAILER DAMAGED ON HIGHWAY 127
03:27 UTCHAIL 0.754 Ne AthensLimestone, AL
03:27 UTCHAIL 0.754 Ne AthensLimestone, AL
03:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 705 S AthensLimestone, AL70 MPH ESTIMATED WIND GUST OVER HIGHWAY 31 IN TANNER. WALL CLOUD REPORTED OVER THE CITY OF TANNER.
03:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 705 S AthensLimestone, AL70 MPH ESTIMATED WIND GUST OVER HIGHWAY 31 IN TANNER. WALL CLOUD REPORTED OVER THE CITY OF TANNER.
04:30 UTCFLASH FLOODMadisonMadison, ALFIVE INCHES OF WATER COVERING OLD MADISON PIKE
04:30 UTCFLASH FLOODMadisonMadison, ALFIVE INCHES OF WATER COVERING OLD MADISON PIKE
04:33 UTCFLASH FLOODDecaturMorgan, ALSTREET FLOODING OCCURRING THROUGHOUT CITY
04:33 UTCFLASH FLOODDecaturMorgan, ALSTREET FLOODING OCCURRING THROUGHOUT CITY
04:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 0HuntsvilleMadison, AL60 MPH THUNDERSTORM INFLOW WIND AT RESEARCH PARK
04:50 UTCTSTM WND GST 0HuntsvilleMadison, AL60 MPH THUNDERSTORM INFLOW WIND AT RESEARCH PARK
04:52 UTCFLASH FLOODMadisonMadison, ALBALCH ROAD AND HIGHWAY 72 UNDER 6-8 INCHES OF WATER
04:52 UTCFLASH FLOODMadisonMadison, ALBALCH ROAD AND HIGHWAY 72 UNDER 6-8 INCHES OF WATER

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2004 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 5, 2004

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 56:01 PM CSTF0Holmes, MS0.250$10,000
March 59:33 PM CSTF0Limestone, AL1.575
March 511:35 PM CSTF0Franklin, TN0.2100

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.