Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2006
F0 tornado, Fayette to Bankston, Alabama, March 13, 2006
From Fayette to Bankston, this F0 tornado ran 1.1 miles across Fayette County on March 13, 2006, touching down at 4:45 PM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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
- March 13, 2006
- Touchdown
- 4:45 PM CST (22:45 UTC)
- Path length
- 1.1 miles (1.8 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $30,000
- County
- Fayette County
- Touchdown point
- 33.900, -87.830
- Lift-off point
- 33.900, -87.830
- Record number
- 149
What the Weather Service recorded
An F0 tornado touched down in rural northern Fayette County approximately 1.8 miles south of Winfield. The tornado began near the intersection of County Road 21 and County Road 49, traveled northeastward, and ended near US Highway 43 and Benton Road. One mobile home was destroyed and several trees were either blown down or snapped off along the path.
An F1 tornado touched down about 2 miles east of Glen Allen in far northern Fayette County, and tracked northeastward, uprooting numerous trees along its path. The tornado crossed County Road 65 and County Road 53 before lifting near Eldridge Road.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
27 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:18 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:50 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17:19 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 19:50 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 22:18 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 22:58 UTC | 23:07 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 23:17 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 01:26 UTC | 01:50 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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
10.8 hours before the tornado, 126 km from the path. March 13, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 37 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -28 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 8 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 552 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 43 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 13 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 60 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 138 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.3 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
1.2 hours after it, 126 km from the path. March 14, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 183 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -26 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 183 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1360 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 65 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 14 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 114 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 193 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 0.7
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 7.9 K/km
The surface observations
Columbus Afb (CBM), 63 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:55 UTC | 80.6 | 62.6 | 200° 12 kt | 16 | 1008.5 | |
| 21:55 UTC | 80.6 | 62.6 | 200° 12 kt | 1008.1 | -DZ | |
| 22:25 UTC | 73.4 | 64.4 | 290° 9 kt | 1008.5 | -TSRA | |
| 22:30 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 280° 14 kt | 1009.1 | -TSRA | |
| 22:35 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 300° 14 kt | 1009.1 | -TSRA | |
| 22:38 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 300° 14 kt | 1009.5 | TSRA | |
| 22:55 UTC | 68 | 68 | 270° 3 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 23:15 UTC | 68 | 68 | 210° 8 kt | 1009.5 | -SHRA | |
| 23:20 UTC | 68 | 68 | 210° 8 kt | 1009.5 | -SHRA | |
| 23:37 UTC | 68 | 68 | 210° 4 kt | 1009.5 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 68 | 68 | 250° 1 kt | 1009.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:06 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Sw Sulligent | Lamar, AL | F0 TORNADO DAMAGED TWO BARN ROOFS. PATH WAS LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF A MILE LONG AND 30 YARDS WIDE |
| 22:07 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 5 Sw Sulligent | Lamar, AL | FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTING ONE HALF MILE FROM THE STATE LINE IN WESTERN LAMAR COUNTY. |
| 22:08 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 5 Sw Sulligent | Lamar, AL | PEA SIZE HAIL REPORTED IN THE WESTERN PORTION OF LAMAR COUNTY. |
| 22:19 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | Sulligent | Lamar, AL | PEA SIZE HAIL REPORTED AT THE SULLIGENT AIRPORT. |
| 22:21 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Sulligent | Lamar, AL | FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTING AT THE SULLIGENT AIRPORT. |
| 22:48 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Winfield | Marion, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR WINFIELD. TREES AND POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG US 43 IN WINFIELD. |
| 22:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 15 N Fayette | Fayette, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHERN FAYETTE. TREES BLOWN DOWN ALONG US 43 NEAR WEEKS ROAD. |
| 22:53 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 6 W Millport | Lamar, AL | SHERIFF DEPUTY REPORTED FUNNEL CLOUD CROSSING STATE LINE. |
| 22:54 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Glen Allen | Fayette, AL | AN F1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST EAST OF GLEN ALLEN. THE TORNADO TRACKED NORTHEASTWARD WHERE IT UPROOTED NUMEROUS TREES ALONG ITS PATH. THE TORNADO CROSSED CR 65 AND CR 53 BEFORE ENDING NEAR ELDRIDGE ROAD. THE TORNADO DAM |
| 23:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 Sw Millport | Pickens, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO SOUTHWEST OF MILLPORT. DEBRIS VISIBLE AND A FEW TREES BLOWN DOWN JUST SOUTH OF SR 96 AND FIELDS ROAD. |
| 23:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 15 N Fayette | Fayette, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHERN FAYETTE. TREES BLOWN DOWN ALONG US 43 NEAR WEEKS ROAD. |
| 23:16 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Kennedy | Lamar, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR KENNEDY. A FEW STRUCTURES HAVE BEEN DAMAGED ALONG HIGHWAY 17. |
| 23:28 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 3 E Carbon Hill | Walker, AL | SEVERAL FUNNEL CLOUDS REPORTED FROM ELDRIDGE TO CARBON HILL TO NEAR MANCHESTER. |
| 23:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Curry | Walker, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHEASTERN WALKER COUNTY. TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NEAR SMITH LAKE. |
| 23:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Curry | Walker, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHEASTERN WLAKER COUNTY. TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NEAR SMITH LAKE. |
| 23:39 UTC | TORNADO | 1 E Curry | Walker, AL | AN F1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST EAST OF THE CURRY COMMUNITY ALONG BURROWS CROSSING ROAD. THE TORNADO COMPLETELY DESTROYED ON BARN. ONE BARN WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED AND A FEW TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN. THE TORNADO DISSIPATED IN L |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 14 N Fayette | Fayette, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN NORTHERN FAYETTE COUNTY. A MOBILE HOME WAS BLOWN OVER AND DESTROYED NEAR CR 21. NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN NEAR CR 49 NEAR WEEKS ROAD AND IN FORREST LOOP. ONE STRUCTURE HAD ITS ROOF PARTIALLY |
| 23:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Sw Berry | Fayette, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO IN SOUTHEASTERN FAYETTE COUNTY. A MOBILE HOME WAS BLOWN OVER NEAR CR 21. |
| 23:54 UTC | TORNADO | 9 N Samantha | Tuscaloosa, AL | AN FO TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN IN RURAL NORTHERN TUSCALOOSA COUNTY JUST EAST OF US 43. THE TORNADO PRODUCED LITTLE TO NO DAMAGE. A STORM SPOTTER CAPTURED IMAGES OF THE TORNADO. THE TORNADO PATH WAS .1 MILES LONG AND |
| 00:14 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 12 Ne Samantha | Tuscaloosa, AL | A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED BY VOLUNTEER FIRE FIGHTERS NEAR WILEY ALONG HIGHWAY 69. |
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 March 13, 2006
19 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 13 | 12:00 AM CST | F3 | Montgomery, MO | 6.0 | 300 | 1 | $800,000 | |
| March 13 | 12:30 AM CST | F2 | Callaway, MO | 13.0 | 100 | 2 | ||
| March 13 | 1:20 AM CST | F3 | Montgomery, MO to IL | 44.5 | 300 | 6 | $2.7 million | |
| March 13 | 1:36 AM CST | F1 | Lincoln, MO | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| March 13 | 1:50 PM CST | F0 | Montgomery, MS | 1.5 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 2:18 PM CST | F0 | Webster, MS | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| March 13 | 2:26 PM CST | F0 | Webster, MS | 1.0 | 30 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 3:15 PM CST | F0 | Clay, MS | 1.0 | 30 | |||
| March 13 | 4:04 PM CST | F0 | Lamar, AL | 0.1 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 4:55 PM CST | F1 | Fayette, AL | 1.6 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:15 PM CST | F0 | Lamar, AL | 2.6 | 75 | $20,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:39 PM CST | F1 | Walker, AL | 1.3 | 25 | $30,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:43 PM CST | F0 | Fayette, AL | 3.4 | 30 | $3,000 | ||
| March 13 | 5:54 PM CST | F0 | Tuscaloosa, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 5:56 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 6:15 PM CST | F0 | Blount, AL | 0.1 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| March 13 | 6:45 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| March 13 | 6:47 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| March 13 | 6:50 PM CST | F0 | Cullman, AL | 0.1 | 20 |
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.