F2 tornado, Pinedale to Mt Meigs Station, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

November 15, 2006

Touchdown

10:25 AM CST (16:25 UTC)

Path length

6.8 miles (11.0 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

6

Property damage

$500,000

County

Montgomery County

Touchdown point

32.330, -86.240

Lift-off point

32.410, -86.090

Record number

1039

A strong storm system brought severe weather and heavy rainfall to much of Central Alabama.

The Montgomery tornado touched down approximately 1.4 miles southwest of the Shakespeare Festival, and tracked northeastward across the Woodmere and Beauvoir Lakes Subdivisions. The tornado then crossed Interstate 85 at Bell Road and continued northeastward to the Atlanta Highway, just west of Taylor Road. Numerous trees were snapped off or downed along the path with minor roof damage to numerous homes. Near the Atlanta Highway, the tornado crossed the A.U.M. ball field complex and struck the Montgomery Postal Processing and Distribution Center and Post Office. The main doors of the post office were blown in and portions of the roof were lifted off to the north. Numerous trees were snapped off at ground level on the south and west sides of the building. A tractor trailer was completely turned around and moved 30 yards and flipped over. Other postal vehicles and cars in the parking lot were moved or received significant damage. Just to the north, the tornado produced major damage to the Fun Zone Skating Rink. This was a large metal building structure which was nearly totally destroyed. Several vehicles were tossed around and significantly damaged or crushed by debris from the building. As the tornado crossed the Atlanta Highway, several metal power poles were either significantly bent or downed. At the Saddleback Ridge Apartment Complex, at least two apartment buildings lost their roofs and portions of the second floor. The tornado continued another 2.25 miles northeastward, ending in a field just south of Wares Ferry Road. Six people suffered minor injuries.

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

32 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:53 UTC, 32 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 16:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:58 UTC and running to 20:35 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.

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.

Maxwell Afb/Montgom (MXF), 19 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

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.