F1 tornado, Ashland, Alabama, April 30, 2005

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

April 30, 2005

Touchdown

6:14 AM CDT (11:14 UTC)

Path length

10.6 miles (17.1 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$80,000

County

Clay County

Touchdown point

33.100, -85.850

Lift-off point

33.170, -85.570

Record number

705

National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed the tornado damage that started over extreme northern TallapoosaCounty, about 2.2 miles northwest of Goldville. It appears the tornado began at 614 AM CDT. There was F0 damage,in the form of scattered tree damage, from Vine Road just south of the Clay County line, east to near Highway 49.The damage increased to F1 damage along Highway 49, especially to the southeast of the highway. There were several dozen trees snapped and uprooted, with many signs of convergence in the pattern of fallen trees. There were a few broken windows in two houses, and one house had its carport lifted up off most of its supportcolumns. In the same area of concentrated damage, four chicken houses sustained significant roof damage, and thetin was blown down the tornado track for about 100 yards. The chicken houses were just north of the county line,in Clay County. The tornado damage path was about 200 yards wide at this point. This damage occurred around 618 AMCDT. The tornado path continued to the east with more trees blown down along the Tallapoosa-Clay county line, including across Simpson Road and County Road 79. As it crossed County Road 79, around 627 AM CDT, the damage wasalong the Tallapoosa-Randolph county line. The damage path entered extreme northwest Chambers County, around 630 AM,along and north of Highway 22. At this point the tornado track ran parallel to Highway 22 all the way to Wadley,on a northeast track. Three brick buildings were significantly damaged in downtown Wadley, about 100 yards north of the Highway 22/77 intersection, on the east side of Highway 77. The southern most building, built in 1925, sustained a fire several years ago and was condemned. The fire had gutted the two-story building, and only the four walls were left standing. There was no roof on this building and it was taller than the two adjacent and attached buildings. The tornado significantly damaged at least two of the walls, and the top of the building toppled over onto the adjacent buildings, causing more damage. Since the integrity of the building had alreadybeen compromised, it was determined the damage was consistent with F0/F1 wind speeds. The tornado continued northeast across the Tallapoosa River and knocked down more trees near the intersection of County Road 33 and County Road 828, near Louina. The total damage path of the tornado was 17.1 miles long and 200 yards wideat its widest point. For purposes of this write-up, the tornado occurred in two counties at the same time because its placement was directly on the county lines. Begin: 33 06.25/85 48.71 End: 33 07.39/85 33.03

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:30 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.

Alexander City (ALX), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

12 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.