Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2005
F0 tornado, Hueytown, Alabama, November 28, 2005
This F0 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Jefferson County on November 28, 2005, touching down at 2:40 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.
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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- November 28, 2005
- Touchdown
- 2:40 PM CST (20:40 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.4 miles (0.6 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $40,000
- County
- Jefferson County
- Touchdown point
- 33.470, -86.980
- Lift-off point
- 33.470, -86.980
- Record number
- 521
What the Weather Service recorded
National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed the damage that affected the Concord community, just northwest of Hueytown. It has been determined that the damage was the result of a tornado. The tornado has been rated an F0 on the Fujita Damage Intensity Scale. A weak tornado briefly touched down in the southwest part of Concord. The tornado produced damage along Smith Road, Masters Road and near Handley Lane. Several trees and large limbs were blown down along the path. Several sheds were overturned, a satellite dish was damaged and at least 5 homes sustained roof damage. This location is just southwest of County Road 46. The tornado damage path was only 0.4 miles long and 75 yards wide at its widest point. The tornado was on the ground at 240 PM CST. Begin: 33.4589/87.0295 End: 33.4620/87.0266
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
8 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:32 UTC, 8 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:57 UTC and running to 00:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:00 UTC | 10:05 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 10:05 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 15:57 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 19:52 UTC | 20:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 20:32 UTC | 21:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 21:14 UTC | 21:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z
8.7 hours before the tornado, 37 km from the path. November 28, 2005.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 151 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -27 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 522 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 310 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 352 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.1 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
3.3 hours after it, 37 km from the path. November 29, 2005.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -19337 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 659 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 83 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 242 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.0 K/km
The surface observations
Birmingham Municipal (BHM), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18:35 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 150° 16 kt | 21 | 1006.1 | |
| 18:53 UTC | 71 | 64 | 170° 13 kt | 27 | 1005.4 | |
| 19:19 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 170° 16 kt | 22 | 1005.1 | |
| 19:53 UTC | 74 | 64 | 160° 11 kt | 22 | 1004.7 | |
| 20:45 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 150° 20 kt | 28 | 1004.4 | TS |
| 20:53 UTC | 72 | 64 | 160° 14 kt | 28 | 1003.7 | TS |
| 21:42 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 180° 12 kt | 19 | 1003.7 | -TSRA |
| 21:53 UTC | 69 | 65 | 260° 11 kt | 20 | 1005.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 21:57 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 230° 7 kt | 20 | 1005.4 | +TSRA BR |
| 22:09 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 270° 14 kt | 17 | 1006.8 | -TSRA BR |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 38 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:41 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:08 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 11 N Birmingham | Jefferson, AL | A HOUSE ON GREAT HOUSE ROAD IN THE CORNER COMMUNITY SUSTAINED ROOF DAMAGE AND THE FRONT PORCH WAS TORN OFF. THIS TORNADO MADE BRIEF CONTACT WITH THE GROUND. |
| 20:08 UTC | TORNADO | 11 N Birmingham | Jefferson, AL | 4818 GREAT HOUSE RD. ROOF DAMAGE. |
| 20:41 UTC | DOWNBURST | Hueytown | Jefferson, AL | TREES AND POWERS LINES DOWN, MASTERS RD. |
| 20:41 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 2 Nw Hueytown | Jefferson, AL | SEVERAL TREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWN ON MASTERS AND SMITH ROAD IN CONCORD. ROOF DAMAGE TO A HOUSE AND AN OVERTURNED SHED WAS FOUND. THIS DAMAGE WAS SURVEYED BY NWS PERSONNEL. |
| 20:41 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 2 Nw Hueytown | Jefferson, AL | SEVERAL TREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWN ON MASTERS AND SMITH ROAD IN CONCORD. ROOF DAMAGE TO FIVE HOUSES AND AN OVERTURNED SHED WAS FOUND. THIS DAMAGE WAS SURVEYED BY NWS PERSONNEL. |
| 20:41 UTC | TORNADO | Hueytown | Jefferson, AL | TREES AND POWERS LINES DOWN, MASTERS RD. CORRECTED |
| 20:45 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 3 Nw Hueytown | Jefferson, AL | WALL CLOUD AND FUNNEL CLOUD |
| 21:15 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | Gardendale | Jefferson, AL | |
| 21:50 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 5 Sw Montevallo | Bibb, AL |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of November 28, 2005
7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 28 | 1:24 AM CST | F0 | West Carroll Parish, LA | 0.5 | 30 | $50,000 | ||
| November 28 | 1:56 AM CST | F0 | Washington, MS | 1.0 | 30 | $50,000 | ||
| November 28 | 2:10 PM CST | F0 | Jefferson, AL | 0.1 | 30 | $20,000 | ||
| November 28 | 4:53 PM CST | F0 | Dallas, AL | 5.8 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| November 28 | 6:41 PM CST | F0 | Autauga, AL | 5.4 | 150 | $30,000 | ||
| November 28 | 7:30 PM CST | F0 | Elmore, AL | 0.1 | 30 | $10,000 | ||
| November 28 | 7:44 PM CST | F1 | Coosa, AL | 0.4 | 150 | $20,000 |
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.