Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008
EF1 tornado, Old Davisville to Pleasant Ridge, Alabama, August 25, 2008
From Old Davisville to Pleasant Ridge, this EF1 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Calhoun County on August 25, 2008, touching down at 12:11 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- August 25, 2008
- Touchdown
- 12:11 PM CDT (17:11 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.0 miles (0.0 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Calhoun County
- Touchdown point
- 33.642, -85.683
- Lift-off point
- 33.642, -85.683
- Record number
- 0808251111-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Tropical Storm Fay, and its remnants after landfall, brought high winds, heavy rain, and numerous tornadoes to Central Alabama.
One home was significantly damaged by a brief tornado touched down in the Sugar Valley subdivision, just off Old Downing Mill Road, in southeastern Calhoun County. This tornado was associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay.
The tornado touched down on Cross Creek Road, just east of Choccolocco Road. It then moved north-northwestward, roughly parallel to Choccolocco Road, and lifted near the intersection of Choccolocco Road and Cobb Road. One auto shop was destroyed and two houses sustained moderate damage. Additionally, one home suffered light damage and 50 to 100 trees were snapped off or uprooted along the path. This tornado was associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
16 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:55 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:30 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:29 UTC and running to 19:54 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 15:51 UTC | Flash Flood Watch | BMX |
| 12:29 UTC | 19:54 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 16:55 UTC | 17:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 17:30 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Tornado 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 16:09 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.
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 12:00Z
5.2 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. August 25, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1144 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1331 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 476 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 19 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 74 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 102 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
Peachtre/Fal Fld, GA (KFFC), 00:00Z
6.8 hours after it, 114 km from the path. August 26, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 629 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -17 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 332 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 606 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 32 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 138 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 213 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.3
- Supercell composite
- 2.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.4 K/km
The radar
The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:09 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:58 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Woodland | Randolph, AL | TREES DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 51. |
| 15:58 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Lineville | Clay, AL | FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR LINEVILLE |
| 16:27 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Talladega | Talladega, AL | JOHNSON AVE AT COOSA STREET, DOWNTOWN TALLADEGA. |
| 16:56 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 Nw Chalafinnee | Cleburne, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO. TREES DOWN ON SCENIC BYWAY WEST OF 431 BYPASS. |
| 16:56 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 3 Nnw Chalafinnee | Cleburne, AL | DAMAGE PATH WAS .4 MILES, JUST SOUTH OF INTERSECTION OF US-431 TO AL-281. ONE GAS STATION/CONVENIENCE STORE AND ONE AUTO BODY SHOP SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE. 100-200 TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF OR UPROOTED. |
| 17:10 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 6 W Heflin | Calhoun, AL | ONE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IN THE SUGAR VALLEY SUBDIVISION, IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF CALHOUN COUNTY. |
| 17:16 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ne Dearmanville | Calhoun, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO. SEVERAL RESIDENCES DAMAGED CHOCOLOCCO WHITE PLAINS ROAD. TREES DOWN AND STRUCTURAL DAMAGE OVER 2 MILE STRETCH BETWEEN GRAND VIEW SUBDIVISON AND MOUTAIN VIEW SUBDIVISION. |
| 17:16 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 5 Ne Dearmanville | Calhoun, AL | ONE AUTO SHOP WAS DESTROYED...2 HOUSES SUSTAINED MODERATE DAMAGE...ONE HOME HAD LIGHT DAMAGE...AND 50-100 TREES WERE SNAPPED OFF OR UPROOTED. |
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 August 25, 2008
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 25 | 7:25 AM CDT | EF0 | Lowndes, AL | 0.1 | 25 | $2,000 | ||
| August 25 | 8:18 AM CDT | EF0 | Pike, AL | 0.5 | 75 | $50,000 | ||
| August 25 | 8:20 AM CDT | EF1 | Dale, AL | 0.4 | 75 | $30,000 | ||
| August 25 | 10:56 AM CDT | EF1 | St. Clair, AL | 3.4 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| August 25 | 11:25 AM CDT | EF1 | Blount, AL | 0.4 | 60 | $10,000 | ||
| August 25 | 12:06 PM CDT | EF2 | Cleburne, AL | 0.4 | 400 | $100,000 | ||
| August 25 | 12:19 PM CDT | EF1 | Calhoun, AL | 1.1 | 250 | $150,000 | ||
| August 25 | 5:26 PM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, FL | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| August 25 | 5:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Pike, AL | 0.0 | 20 | $2,000 | ||
| August 25 | 7:26 PM CDT | EF1 | Houston, AL | 0.2 | 50 | $75,000 | ||
| August 25 | 10:02 PM EDT | EF0 | Miller, GA | 0.9 | 75 | $75,000 |
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.