F1 tornado, Rabun to Dyas, Alabama, November 15, 2006

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

November 15, 2006

Touchdown

9:09 AM CST (15:09 UTC)

Path length

1.3 miles (2.0 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$100,000

County

Baldwin County

Touchdown point

30.970, -87.680

Lift-off point

30.980, -87.660

Record number

1037

Strong southerly winds developed ahead of a cold front and caused low level shear to increase across the area. This low level shear aided in the development of several tornadoes across the area.

A weak tornado touched down along Old Ganey Road blowing down several trees on both sides of the road. The tornado generally paralleled the roadway to the intersection of Silas Ganey Road where it began to parallel that road for a brief period. The tornado then crosses Majors Creek then dissipated shortly thereafter. No structures were in the path of the tornado.

A tornado touched down along Hollingsworth Road in the Dyas community where it blew down several trees. It continued east northeast reaching F1 strength where it crossed over Dyas Road about a mile north of Brushy Creek. A house on the east side of the road sustained considerable roof damage. Two sheds, a barn ,horse pen and a screened in porch were destroyed. Numerous debris from this property were blown into an adjacent field and the owner said several items were found as far as a half mile away. The tornado quickly weakened and dissipated at the end of Sanks Road.

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

31 minutes of warning. NWS MOB issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:38 UTC, 31 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:00 UTC and running to 15:58 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, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 13:04 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.

Mobile Downtown (BFM), 54 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Mobile radar (KMOB), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:08 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.

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

27 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.