Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008

EF0 tornado, Corcoran, Alabama, August 25, 2008

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Pike County on August 25, 2008, touching down at 8:18 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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
August 25, 2008
Touchdown
8:18 AM CDT (13:18 UTC)
Lifted
8:19 AM CDT (13:19 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.7 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Pike County
Touchdown point
31.850, -85.950
Lift-off point
31.856, -85.947
Record number
0808250718-01

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 near the intersection of Needmore Road and County Road 7749. It then moved north-northeastward, roughly parallel to Needmore Road, for about a half mile before lifting. It produced minor damage to the roof of a home, destroyed one outbuilding, damaged the awning of a barn, caused extensive damage to two chicken houses, and snapped off about 15 hardwood trees. 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

21 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 12:57 UTC, 21 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 13:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:29 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
06:10 UTC12:29 UTCTornado WatchBMX
12:00 UTC15:51 UTCFlash Flood WatchBMX
12:29 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WatchBMX
12:57 UTC13:30 UTCTornado WarningBMX
18:30 UTC19:00 UTCTornado WarningBMX
22:45 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningBMX
04:28 UTC07:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryBMX

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 12:49 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 surface observations

Troy Municipal (TOI), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
11:44 UTC75.273.4100° 7 kt1010.2-RA BR
11:53 UTC7673110° 6 kt1010.2-RA BR
12:20 UTC75.273.4100° 9 kt1010.2-RA BR
12:35 UTC75.273.4110° 9 kt1010.5-RA BR
12:43 UTC75.273.4120° 10 kt1010.5-RA BR
12:50 UTC75.273.4110° 9 kt1010.5RA BR
12:53 UTC7673120° 8 kt1010.5RA BR
13:02 UTC75.273.4130° 12 kt231010.8+RA BR
13:07 UTC73.471.6130° 17 kt271010.5+RA BR
13:15 UTC75.271.6160° 7 kt161010.8RA BR
13:23 UTC75.271.6210° 10 kt1010.8-RA BR
13:35 UTC73.471.6190° 6 kt1011.2RA BR
13:40 UTC73.471.6160° 4 kt1010.8-RA BR
13:53 UTC7470150° 7 kt1010.5-RA
14:46 UTC73.469.8140° 9 kt1010.5-RA
14:53 UTC7369140° 12 kt1010.5-RA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
12:15 UTCTSTM WND DMG9 Se HaynevilleLowndes, ALHALF DOZEN TREES SNAPPED OFF BETWEEN MILE MARKER 154 AND 155 ON INTERSTATE 65.
12:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGHighland HomeCrenshaw, ALTREES DOWN
13:05 UTCTORNADOTroyPike, ALUNCONFIRMED TORNADO DAMAGE TROY STATE CAMPUS AND ON NEEDMORE ROAD. REPORTED 0845
13:20 UTCTORNADO4 W SkippervilleDale, ALPOSSIBLE TORNADO REPORTED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTY ROAD 19 AND COUNTY ROAD 15 IN NORTH CENTRAL DALE COUNTY. SEVERAL TREES DOWN AND A BARN DAMAGED. TIME ESTIMATE OF 820 AM CDT BY RADAR.
13:22 UTCTORNADO 04 Ne TroyPike, ALCAUSED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO HOME AND AN OUTBUILDING DESTROYED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF NEEDMORE ROAD AND PIKE COUNTY ROAD 7749.
13:22 UTCTORNADO4 Ne TroyPike, ALFO TORNADO CAUSED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO HOME AND AN OUTBUILDING DESTROYED.
13:25 UTCTORNADO 04 Ne TroyPike, ALMINOR TO MAJOR DAMAGE TO TWO CHICKEN COOPS. A FEW HARDWOOD TREES ALSO SNAPPED ALOFT JUST NORTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF NEEDMORE ROAD AND PIKE COUNTY ROAD 7749.
13:25 UTCTORNADO4 Ne TroyPike, ALF0 TORNADO CAUSED MINOR TO MAJOR DAMAGE TO TWO CHICKEN COOPS. A FEW HARDWOOD TRESS SNAPPED ALOFT.
13:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGLouisvilleBarbour, ALTREES DOWN IN THE CITY OF LOUISVILLE.

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 258:20 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 2512:06 PM CDTEF2Cleburne, AL0.4400$100,000
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.