Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2004

F0 tornado, Lester, Alabama, October 18, 2004

This F0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Limestone County on October 18, 2004, touching down at 6:27 PM CDT and reaching 35 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
October 18, 2004
Touchdown
6:27 PM CDT (23:27 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
35 yards (32 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Limestone County
Touchdown point
34.970, -87.180
Lift-off point
34.980, -87.150
Record number
1737

What the Weather Service recorded

A F-0 tornado with maximum wind speeds at 60 mph touched down and destroyed a few trees and power lines.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Huntsville, AL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Oct 18, 3:22 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 18, 3:22 PM CDT, 3 hours 5 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 18, 4:35 PM CDT, 1 hour 52 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 18, 5:43 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Oct 18, 5:45 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Oct 18, 5:49 PM CDT, 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
549 PM CDT MON OCT 18 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0540 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     10 NE FLORENCE          34.93N 87.54W
10/18/2004                   LAUDERDALE         AL   TRAINED SPOTTER

            STRONG ROTATION REPORTED JUST ABOVE GROUND NEAR
            INTERSECTION OF HWY 43 AND HWY 64.

&&

PNG
Local storm report, Oct 18, 5:52 PM CDT, 35 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Oct 18, 6:08 PM CDT, 19 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
608 PM CDT MON OCT 18 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0605 PM     TORNADO          LEXINGTON               34.97N 87.37W
10/18/2004                   LAUDERDALE         AL   EMERGENCY MNGR

            TORNADO ON GROUND...CONFIRMED DAMAGE IN AREA.

&&

PNG
Local storm report, Oct 18, 6:13 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HUNTSVILLE AL
613 PM CDT MON OCT 18 2004

..TIME...   ...EVENT...     ...CITY LOCATION...      ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....     ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 PM     HAIL             5 E LEXINGTON           34.97N 87.28W
10/18/2004  0.25 INCH        LAUDERDALE         AL   AMATEUR RADIO

            HAIL REPORTED IN GRASSY.

0605 PM     TORNADO          LEXINGTON               34.97N 87.37W
10/18/2004                   LAUDERDALE         AL   AMATEUR RADIO

            NUMEROUS REPORTS OF TORNADO ON GROUND BETWEEN CENTER HILL
            AND LEXINGTON.

&&

PNG

The surface observations

Decatur/Pryor Field (DCU), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:29 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.

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 October 18, 2004

35 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 188:59 AM CDTF1Saline, AR2.0300
October 189:20 AM CDTF2Saline, AR24.080011
October 1810:07 AM CDTF0Lonoke, AR3.350
October 1810:42 AM CDTF2Lonoke, AR19.0600$12 million
October 184:08 PM CDTF1Washington, MO0.2807
October 184:10 PM CDTF0Washington, MO0.850
October 184:11 PM CDTF0Washington, MO0.840
October 184:12 PM CDTF0Washington, MO0.840
October 184:13 PM CDTF0Washington, MO0.840
October 184:26 PM CDTF1Iron, MO2.0400
October 184:35 PM CDTF0Iron, MO0.5100
October 184:37 PM CDTF0Reynolds, MO0.540$100,000
October 184:45 PM CDTF1Colbert, AL2.0200$2,000
October 184:48 PM CDTF1Lauderdale, AL5.0200$20,000
October 184:50 PM CDTF0Randolph, AR2.025$10,000
October 184:59 PM CDTF0Madison, MO1.5250
October 185:05 PM CDTF1Randolph, AR13.075$70,000
October 185:10 PM CDTF1Madison, MO5.5100
October 185:10 PM CDTF0Greene, AR8.025$1,000
October 185:10 PM CDTF1Lauderdale, AL2.050$10,000
October 185:16 PM CDTF0Randolph, AR0.525$1,000
October 185:25 PM CDTF0Clay, AR0.525$1,000
October 185:51 PM CDTF0Bollinger, MO0.250
October 186:00 PM CDTF0Clay, AR4.025$1,000
October 186:15 PM CDTF1Lawrence, TN0.7200$10,000
October 186:35 PM CDTF0Lawrence, AR23.0100$150,000
October 187:10 PM CDTF0Greene, AR0.325$1,000
October 187:16 PM CDTF2Johnson, IL8.82503$540,000
October 187:34 PM CDTF0Dallas, AR0.225
October 187:40 PM CDTF0Clay, MS1.075$1,000
October 187:43 PM CDTF2Johnson, IL14.0300$200,000
October 187:55 PM CDTF2Pemiscot, MO0.512537$300,000
October 188:14 PM CDTF0Calloway, KY0.250$10,000
October 188:50 PM CDTF1Dyer, TN0.51001$1.0 million
October 189:12 PM CDTF1Henry, TN8.33001$800,000

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.