F0 tornado, Clayton, Alabama, January 13, 2006

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

January 13, 2006

Touchdown

12:20 PM CST (18:20 UTC)

Path length

8.5 miles (13.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$250,000

County

Barbour County

Touchdown point

32.000, -85.450

Lift-off point

32.020, -85.280

Record number

28

The tornado touched down at 12:20 PM CST in the Barbour County Wildlife Management Area, near the intersection of Charles Drive and County Road 49. It then moved northeastward and skirted County Road 49, then moved across a large wooded area and open pasture area. Several hundred trees were snapped off and uprooted near the beginning of the tornado damage path. As the tornado traveled northeast, a large warehouse at a family owned sod farm was completely destroyed. An office used by the sod farm was heavily damaged due to a large tree falling on it. The tornado crossed US 82 between the Comer community and the Batesville community. As the tornado crossed US 82, an automobile was tossed some 80 feet off the roadway. One male occupant of the car was injured and transported to the hospital. The tornado traveled just over a mile past US 82 and snapped off several hundred more trees before lifting north of US 82 near Bear Creek at approximately 1233 PM CST. The tornado snapped off many hundreds of trees along its path. One warehouse was destroyed, one office was heavily damaged, and one home sustained roof damage. Metal tin from the roof of a shed was thrown at least a half mile down the tornado path. At least one automobile was damaged and one man was injured. The tornado path length was 8.5 miles long and was 100 yards wide at its widest point.Begin: 31.9875/85.4472 End: 32.0328/85.3122

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:07 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:11 UTC and running to 19:08 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:20 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.

Fort Benning (LSF), 51 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

14 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.