Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008
EF1 tornado, St Clair Spgs to St Clair, Alabama, August 25, 2008
From St Clair Spgs to St Clair, this EF1 tornado ran 3.4 miles across St. Clair County on August 25, 2008, touching down at 10:56 AM CDT and reaching 100 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 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
- 10:56 AM CDT (15:56 UTC)
- Lifted
- 11:06 AM CDT (16:06 UTC)
- On the ground
- 10 minutes
- Path length
- 3.4 miles (5.4 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $20,000
- County
- St. Clair County
- Touchdown point
- 33.755, -86.377
- Lift-off point
- 33.785, -86.423
- Record number
- 0808250956-01
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 just northeast of the Saint Clair Correctional Facility. It then moved northwest, crossing AL-23 and Interstate 59, and then lifted just east of the intersection of AL-23 and US-11. A few structures had minor damage from fallen trees. Otherwise, damage was primarily snapped softwood trees 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
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.
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 |
| 16:03 UTC | 16:21 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 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 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
3.9 hours before the tornado, 74 km from the path. August 25, 2008.
- 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
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
8.1 hours after it, 74 km from the path. August 26, 2008.
- 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
The surface observations
Gadsden Municipal (Awos) (GAD), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:15 UTC | 78.8 | 73.4 | 70° 8 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 14:35 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 100° 8 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 14:55 UTC | 78.8 | 71.6 | 100° 7 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 15:15 UTC | 77 | 71.6 | 100° 6 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 15:35 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 100° 4 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 15:55 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 120° 6 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 16:15 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 110° 6 kt | 1012.2 | ||
| 16:35 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 90° 5 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 16:55 UTC | 75.2 | 73.4 | 100° 6 kt | 1011.9 | ||
| 17:15 UTC | 73.4 | 73.4 | 100° 10 kt | 15 | 1011.9 | |
| 17:35 UTC | 71.6 | 69.8 | 110° 11 kt | 16 | 1011.5 | |
| 17:55 UTC | 71.6 | 69.8 | 110° 9 kt | 1011.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:57 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:02 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 N Odenville | St. Clair, AL | SEVERAL TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ON AL-23 NEAR THE PRISON. |
| 16:02 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 5 Nne Odenville | St. Clair, AL | PATH WENT FROM JUST NORTHEAST OF THE ST. CLAIR CORRECTIONAL FACILITY, TO JUST EAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF AL-23 AND US-11. A FEW STRUCTURES HAD MINOR DAMAGE FROM FALLEN TREES. OTHERWISE, DAMAGE WAS CONFINED TO SNAPPED SO |
| 16:22 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 6 N Springville | Blount, AL | PATH STRETCHED FROM SOUTH SHORE OF EASTERN END OF INLAND LAKE, TO ABOUT A QUATER MILE NORTHWEST OF THE BOAT LAUNCH. NUMEROUS TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPROOTED, 2 STRUCTURES SUSTAINED LIGHT DAMAGE, AND SEVERAL POWER POLES W |
| 16:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 4 S Oneonta | Blount, AL | UNSPECIFIED DAMAGE REPORTED AT THE BOAT LAUNCH ON THE NORTH END OF INLAND LAKE. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 16:25 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ne Remlap | Blount, AL | UNCONFIRMED TORNADO INLAND LAKE BOAT LAUNCH. CORRECTION FOR LOCATION. SEE SUBSEQUENT INLAND LAKE REPORT. |
| 16:25 UTC | TORNADO | 6 Ne Remlap | Blount, AL | UNCONFIRMED TORNADO INLAND LAKE BOAT LAUNCH. CORRECTION FOR LOCATION. SEE SUBSEQUENT INLAND LAKE REPORT. |
| 16:25 UTC | TORNADO | Remlap | Blount, AL | UNCONFIRMED TORNADO INLAND LAKE BOAT LAUNCH. |
| 16:27 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | Talladega | Talladega, AL | JOHNSON AVE AT COOSA STREET, DOWNTOWN TALLADEGA. |
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 | 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 | 12:11 PM CDT | EF1 | Calhoun, AL | 0.0 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| 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.