Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2006
F1 tornado, Greensboro Muni Arpt to Hogglesville, Alabama, November 30, 2006
From Greensboro Muni Arpt to Hogglesville, this F1 tornado ran 11.3 miles across Hale County on November 30, 2006, touching down at 9:35 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $20,000 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 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mphthis tornado
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
- F1
- Date
- November 30, 2006
- Touchdown
- 9:35 PM CST (03:35 UTC)
- Path length
- 11.3 miles (18.1 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- Hale County
- Touchdown point
- 32.670, -87.710
- Lift-off point
- 32.780, -87.580
- Record number
- 1059
What the Weather Service recorded
A line of moderate showers, along a cold front, produced isolated tornadoes and wind damage in Central Alabama.
The tornado touched down just west of County Road 35, between County Road 24 and County Road 73, which is about 7 miles southwest of Greensboro. The tornado then tracked northeastward, and crossed County Roads 24 and 28, State Highway 14, County Roads 21 and 19, and State Highway 69. The tornado lifted just north of County Road 4 near its intersection with State Highway 69. One barn was destroyed and several out-buildings were damaged or destroyed along the path. Hundreds of trees were either snapped off or blown down. One tractor and one automobile were damaged.
The tornado touched down just east of the Greensboro Municipal Airport. It then tracked northeastward, crossing County Road 24, County Road 28 and State Highway 14. Several trees were knocked down or were snapped off at the Lakeview Country Club. The Hale County Jail suffered roof damage. Additional trees were blown down along the path.
The tornado touched down just south of the intersection of State Highway 69 and County Road 32, which is roughly half way between the Havana community and Greensboro. The tornado then tracked northeastward, and lifted at the southwestern edge of the Talladega National Forest near County Road 29. Hundreds of trees were either snapped off or were blown down along the path.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03:00 UTC | 12:02 UTC | Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 04:02 UTC | 04:13 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 12:00 UTC | 20:00 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 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), 00:00Z
3.6 hours before the tornado, 95 km from the path. December 1, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 148 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -9 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 170 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 782 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 62 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 309 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 362 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.2
- Supercell composite
- 0.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.0 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z
8.4 hours after it, 95 km from the path. December 1, 2006.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -93472 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 21 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 993 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 66 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 110 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 157 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 2.9 K/km
The surface observations
Tuscaloosa Municipal (TCL), 54 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:53 UTC | 73 | 65 | 160° 13 kt | 22 | 1010.8 | |
| 02:53 UTC | 73 | 66 | 170° 16 kt | 25 | 1010.2 | |
| 03:53 UTC | 69 | 66 | 210° 9 kt | 15 | 1010.2 | -RA |
| 04:53 UTC | 68 | 63 | 190° 12 kt | 21 | 1009.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Demopolis | Marengo, AL | TRAILER DAMAGED...NUMEROUS TREES DOWN...CHIMNEY DAMAGE...POSSIBLE TORNADO |
| 03:30 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 Sw Demopolis | Marengo, AL | PRELIMINARY PATH LENGTH 1.2 MILES AND 150 YARDS WIDE. THE TORNADO STARTED NEAR US HIGHWAY 80 AND MARIA AVENUE. SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE BLOWN OVER ONTO HOMES PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE. SEVERAL MORE LARGE TREES WERE KN |
| 03:30 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 3 Sw Demopolis | Marengo, AL | PRELIMINARY PATH LENGTH 3.5 MILES AND 150 YARDS WIDE. THE TORNADO STARTED NEAR US HIGHWAY 80 AND MARIA AVENUE. SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE BLOWN OVER ONTO HOMES PRODUCING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE. SEVERAL MORE LARGE TREES WERE KN |
| 03:35 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 7 Sw Greensboro | Hale, AL | THE TORNADO DAMAGE PATH WAS 11.3 MILES LONG AND 75 YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST POINT. HUNDREDS OF TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF ALONG THE PATH. A FEW BARNS AND OUT-BUILDINGS SUFFERED VARYING DEGREES OF DAMAGE. ONE TRACTOR AND ONE |
| 03:40 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 4 W Greensboro | Hale, AL | THE TORNADO PATH WAS 3.3 MILES LONG AND 25 YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST POINT. SEVERAL TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF ALONG THE PATH. THE LAKEVIEW COUNNTRY CLUB AND THE HALE COUNTY JAIL RECEIVED DAMAGE. |
| 03:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Greensboro | Hale, AL | SEVERAL TREES DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. |
| 03:52 UTC | DOWNBURST | Faunsdale | Marengo, AL | TREES DOWN ALONG HWY 80. |
| 03:52 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Faunsdale | Marengo, AL | SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ALONG HIGHWAY 80 NEAR FAUNSDALE. |
| 03:52 UTC | NON-TSTM WND DMG | Faunsdale | Marengo, AL | TREES DOWN ALONG HWY 80. |
| 03:59 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 7 N Greensboro | Hale, AL | THE TORNADO PATH LENGTH WAS 5.8 MILES AND WAS 75 YARDS WIDE AT ITS WIDEST POINT. HUNDREDS OF TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF ALONG THE PATH. |
| 03:59 UTC | TORNADO | 7 N Greensboro | Hale, AL | AN F1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WITH A PATH LENGTH OF 5.8 MILES AND WIDTH OF 75 YARDS AT ITS WIDEST POINT. HUNDREDS OF TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF ALONG THE PATH. |
| 04:10 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 12 N Greensboro | Hale, AL | ONE BARN WAS HEAVILY DAMAGED AND SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN EAST OF THE HAVANA COMMUNITY. |
| 04:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscaloosa | Tuscaloosa, AL | SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. SOME OF THE LOCATIONS INCLUDE BROOKWOOD...COKER...LAKE TUSCALOOSA...SIPSEY...AND NORTHPORT. |
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 November 30, 2006
3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 30 | 9:19 PM CST | F1 | Marengo, AL | 3.6 | 150 | $500,000 | ||
| November 30 | 9:40 PM CST | F0 | Hale, AL | 3.3 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| November 30 | 9:53 PM CST | F1 | Hale, AL | 5.8 | 75 | $10,000 |
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.