Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008

EF0 tornado, Ripley to Blackburn, Alabama, April 4, 2008

From Ripley to Blackburn, this EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Limestone County on April 4, 2008, touching down at 8:34 AM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

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

  3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. EF5over 200 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
EF0
Date
April 4, 2008
Touchdown
8:34 AM CDT (13:34 UTC)
Lifted
8:41 AM CDT (13:41 UTC)
On the ground
7 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
County
Limestone County
Touchdown point
34.766, -87.090
Lift-off point
34.769, -87.087
Record number
0804040734-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms developed ahead of a cold front across northern Alabama during the morning of April 4th. Scattered wind damage and isolated tornadoes impacted the area.

This EF-0 tornado touched down along Seven Mile Post road. The tornado damaged one home, destroyed a shed, and damaged several trees. The tornado damage path was approximately one quarter mile in length, and approximately 25 yards in width. Maximum wind speeds were approximately 60 mph, rating this tornado as an EF-0 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS HUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:29 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 07:46 UTC and running to 16:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
07:46 UTC16:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchHUN
13:27 UTC14:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUN
13:29 UTC14:00 UTCTornado WarningHUN
13:52 UTC14:20 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHUN
15:46 UTC14:04 UTCFlood AdvisoryOHX
21:16 UTC02:40 UTCFlash Flood WatchHUN

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 12:54 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.

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 12:00Z

1.6 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. April 4, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2008-04-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 251 joules per kilogram, CIN -64, lifted condensation level 550 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 12:00Z on 2008-04-04The 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 -254 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 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
251 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-64 J/kg
Surface CAPE
194 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
550 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-254 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-102 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.4
Supercell composite
-6.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), 00:00Z

10.4 hours after it, 158 km from the path. April 5, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2008-04-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 48 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 473 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Nashville Metro, TN at 00:00Z on 2008-04-05The 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 134 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
48 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
350 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
473 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
66 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
134 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:35 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
13:02 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 E TuscumbiaColbert, ALAN EF-1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS AT 85 MPH PRODUCED A FIVE MILE DAMAGE PATH. MODERATE ROOF DAMAGE OCCURRED AT A COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENT BUILDING AND A MANUFACTURING PLANT. SEVERAL HOMES HAD MINOR ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE
13:02 UTCTORNADO2 E TuscumbiaColbert, ALAN EF-1 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS AT 85 MPH PRODUCED A FIVE MILE DAMAGE PATH. MODERATE ROOF DAMAGE OCCURRED AT A COUNTY ROAD DEPARTMENT BUILDING AND A MANUFACTURING PLANT. SEVERAL HOMES HAD MINOR ROOF AND SIDING DAMAGE
13:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGMuscle ShoalsColbert, ALHIGHWAY PATROL REPORTED SHED DAMAGED. ALSO, TREES AND POWERLINES BLOWN DOWN AT THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 157 AND 20.
13:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGRogersvilleLauderdale, ALTREE WAS BLOWN DOWN AT THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROADS 26 AND 165 IN ROGERSVILLE.
13:34 UTCTORNADO5 E CoxeyLimestone, ALAN EF-0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WITH MAXIMUM WINDS AT 60 MPH PRODUCED MINOR DAMAGE TO A HOME AND DESTROYED A SMALL SHED AND DOWNED SEVERAL TREES ALONG A QUARTER MILE PATH.
14:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ne AthensLimestone, ALROOF DAMAGE TO BARN NEAR COPELAND
14:24 UTCFLASH FLOODRogersvilleLauderdale, ALFLOODING REPORTED IN MANY LOCATIONS ACROSS THE ROGERSVILLE COMMUNITY.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 4, 2008

14 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 41:20 AM CDTEF1Graves, KY3.6170$50,000
April 48:03 AM CDTEF1Colbert, AL6.520$75,000
April 49:04 AM CDTEF0Limestone, AL1.620$10,000
April 410:08 AM CDTEF1Winn Parish, LA5.8400$25,000
April 410:21 AM CDTEF1Winn Parish, LA7.62001
April 410:28 AM CDTEF0Winston, AL2.575$10,000
April 411:23 AM CDTEF1Warren, MS3.73001$1.2 million
April 411:52 AM CDTEF1Warren, MS2.2209$120,000
April 412:11 PM CDTEF1Hinds, MS2.7300$50,000
April 412:17 PM CDTEF1Hinds, MS2.2200$80,000
April 412:28 PM CDTEF2Hinds, MS13.090020$46 million
April 43:24 PM CDTEF0Calhoun, AL0.150
April 46:24 PM EDTEF1Fairfield, SC6.580
April 48:42 PM EDTEF0Newberry, SC4.660$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.