Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008

EF2 tornado, Chulafinnee, Alabama, August 25, 2008

This EF2 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Cleburne County on August 25, 2008, touching down at 12:06 PM CDT and reaching 400 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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 mph

    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 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. 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
EF2
Date
August 25, 2008
Touchdown
12:06 PM CDT (17:06 UTC)
Lifted
12:07 PM CDT (17:07 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
400 yards (366 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Cleburne County
Touchdown point
33.583, -85.678
Lift-off point
33.587, -85.682
Record number
0808251106-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Tropical Storm Fay, and its remnants after landfall, brought high winds, heavy rain, and numerous tornadoes to Central Alabama.

The tornado touched down on US-431, about a half mile south of the intersection with AL-281. It then moved northwestward, along and just east of US-431, and lifted just before reaching AL-281. One gas station/convenience store and one auto body shop were significantly damaged. Approximately 100 to 200 trees were snapped off or were uprooted along the damage 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

11 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:55 UTC, 11 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)ExpiredProductOffice
12:00 UTC15:51 UTCFlash Flood WatchBMX
12:29 UTC19:54 UTCTornado WatchBMX
14:33 UTC15:00 UTCTornado WarningBMX
14:57 UTC15:19 UTCTornado WarningBMX
16:55 UTC17:30 UTCTornado WarningBMX

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.

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z

5.1 hours before the tornado, 112 km from the path. August 25, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2008-08-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 675 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 533 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, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2008-08-25The 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 166 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 22 knots.193958Sfc1 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
675 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
168 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

6.9 hours after it, 112 km from the path. August 26, 2008.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2008-08-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -13480, lifted condensation level 7867 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.1000850700500300200100-30°-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, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2008-08-26The 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 6 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 19 knots.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13480 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
7867 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
-1.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Atlanta radar (KFFC), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:05 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
14:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGWoodlandRandolph, ALTREES DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 51.
15:58 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDLinevilleClay, ALFUNNEL CLOUD NEAR LINEVILLE
16:27 UTCFLASH FLOODTalladegaTalladega, ALJOHNSON AVE AT COOSA STREET, DOWNTOWN TALLADEGA.
16:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Nw ChalafinneeCleburne, ALPOSSIBLE TORNADO. TREES DOWN ON SCENIC BYWAY WEST OF 431 BYPASS.
16:56 UTCTORNADO 23 Nnw ChalafinneeCleburne, ALDAMAGE 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 UTCTORNADO 16 W HeflinCalhoun, ALONE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE IN THE SUGAR VALLEY SUBDIVISION, IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PORTION OF CALHOUN COUNTY.
17:16 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne DearmanvilleCalhoun, ALPOSSIBLE 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 UTCTORNADO 15 Ne DearmanvilleCalhoun, ALONE 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 257:25 AM CDTEF0Lowndes, AL0.125$2,000
August 258:18 AM CDTEF0Pike, AL0.575$50,000
August 258:20 AM CDTEF1Dale, AL0.475$30,000
August 2510:56 AM CDTEF1St. Clair, AL3.4100$20,000
August 2511:25 AM CDTEF1Blount, AL0.460$10,000
August 2512:11 PM CDTEF1Calhoun, AL0.050$10,000
August 2512:19 PM CDTEF1Calhoun, AL1.1250$150,000
August 255:26 PM CDTEF0Jackson, FL0.250
August 255:58 PM CDTEF0Pike, AL0.020$2,000
August 257:26 PM CDTEF1Houston, AL0.250$75,000
August 2510:02 PM EDTEF0Miller, GA0.975$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.