Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2006

F0 tornado, Tumbleton, Alabama, January 13, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Henry County on January 13, 2006, touching down at 12:45 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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.

  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
January 13, 2006
Touchdown
12:45 PM CST (18:45 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Henry County
Touchdown point
31.400, -85.270
Lift-off point
31.400, -85.270
Record number
29

What the Weather Service recorded

A severe thunderstorm spawned a weak tornado which damaged a church parsonage, several barns and farm equipment. It blew down a road sign and a few trees and power lines near the intersection of County Roads 45 and 13. Also, five homes were damaged. Reported by the Henry County EMA.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:13 UTC and running to 20:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:12 UTC14:00 UTCDense Fog AdvisoryTAE
13:13 UTC20:00 UTCTornado WatchTAE
18:40 UTC19:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTAE

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. 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 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.

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 12:00Z

6.8 hours before the tornado, 145 km from the path. January 13, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-01-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 42 joules per kilogram, CIN -179, lifted condensation level 782 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 12:00Z on 2006-01-13The 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 176 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
42 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-179 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
782 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tallahassee Rgnl, FL (KTLH), 00:00Z

5.2 hours after it, 145 km from the path. January 14, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 451 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 759 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Tallahassee Rgnl, FL at 00:00Z on 2006-01-14The 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 211 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 66 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
451 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
962 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
66 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
211 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
2.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Dothan Municipal (DHN), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
16:53 UTC6858210° 16 kt1011.2
17:20 UTC6859190° 17 kt231009.8TS
17:33 UTC6859200° 15 kt221009.5
17:53 UTC6762190° 18 kt241008.5VCTS RA
18:32 UTC64.462.6290° 21 kt291008.1TSRA
18:38 UTC64.462.6240° 10 kt291008.5+TSRA BR
18:53 UTC6563230° 21 kt351008.1VCTS -RA
18:58 UTC66.260.8240° 26 kt341008.1VCTS -RA
19:09 UTC66.260.8250° 15 kt311008.5
19:53 UTC6958260° 16 kt221007.8

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

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
17:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGEnterpriseCoffee, ALTREES DOWN.
18:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGLevel PlainsDale, ALWIND DAMAGE TO CHICKEN HOUSE. POWER LINES DOWN ON STATE HWY 84.
18:25 UTCTSTM WND DMGLevel PlainsDale, ALWIND DAMAGE TO CHICKEN HOUSES. POWER LINES DOWN ON STATE HWY 84.
18:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGTumbletonHenry, ALDAMAGE TO A BARN. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
18:55 UTCTSTM WND DMGTumbletonHenry, ALTWO HOMES DAMAGED AND SEVERAL BUILDINGS DAMAGED. DAMAGE TO A BARN ON CO RTE 45. TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN.
18:55 UTCTORNADOTumbletonHenry, ALEYEWITNESS REPORT OF TORNADO FROM GENERAL PUBLIC.

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of January 13, 2006

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 134:20 AM CSTF1Concordia Parish, LA2.01001$450,000
January 1310:01 AM CSTF1Conecuh, AL1.08801$500,000
January 1310:41 AM CSTF0Okaloosa, FL4.05013$2.0 million
January 1310:56 AM CSTF1Santa Rosa, FL0.875$500,000
January 1312:00 PM CSTF0Dale, AL1.050$500,000
January 1312:20 PM CSTF0Barbour, AL8.51001$250,000
January 134:15 PM ESTF1Colquitt, GA9.61001$2.0 million
January 135:18 PM ESTF0Lexington, SC0.240
January 138:00 PM ESTF0Bamberg, SC0.140
January 138:06 PM ESTF1Gaston, NC0.5100$350,000
January 138:25 PM ESTF0Orangeburg, SC0.350
January 138:30 PM ESTF0Camden, GA0.10$200,000
January 139:02 PM ESTF0Orangeburg, SC0.350$10,000
January 139:35 PM ESTF1Clarendon, SC6.044018$500,000

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.