Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008
EF1 tornado, Blue Spgs, Alabama, February 17, 2008
This EF1 tornado ran 2.3 miles across Barbour County on February 17, 2008, touching down at 12:00 AM CST and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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
- February 17, 2008
- Touchdown
- 12:00 AM CST (06:00 UTC)
- Lifted
- 12:02 AM CST (06:02 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 2.3 miles (3.6 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $75,000
- County
- Barbour County
- Touchdown point
- 31.648, -85.524
- Lift-off point
- 31.660, -85.488
- Record number
- 0802170000-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A broken squall line, sparked by an advancing cold front and strong upper level storm, caused severe thunderstorms and tornadoes across Central Alabama.
The tornado touched down at the intersection of CR-72 and AL-33, near Blue Springs State Park. It then traveled northeastward about 2 miles, before lifting at CR-41 just east of the park. Four houses and one mobile home sustained roof damage, and several trees were snapped off.
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Lake Wind Advisory | BMX |
| 18:34 UTC | 00:55 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 19:50 UTC | 20:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 20:41 UTC | 21:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 21:37 UTC | 21:55 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 22:05 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 22:10 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 22:40 UTC | 23:05 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 05:58 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
Fort Rucker (HEY), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:53 UTC | 58 | 31 | 130° 3 kt | 1015.2 | ||
| 05:53 UTC | 57 | 31 | 140° 3 kt | 1014.6 | ||
| 07:53 UTC | 57 | 57 | 140° 5 kt | 1013.5 | BR |
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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Se Goshen | Pike, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO...ROAD DAMAGE REPORTED IN HENDERSON. |
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 February 17, 2008
25 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 17 | 1:30 AM CST | EF1 | Saint Landry Parish, LA | 5.6 | 125 | $125,000 | ||
| February 17 | 3:42 AM CST | EF1 | Saint Helena Parish, LA | 0.3 | 15 | $30,000 | ||
| February 17 | 3:55 AM CST | EF1 | Tangipahoa Parish, LA | 2.0 | 15 | $15,000 | ||
| February 17 | 4:25 AM CST | EF0 | Washington Parish, LA | 0.1 | 15 | $8,000 | ||
| February 17 | 5:05 AM CST | EF0 | Washington Parish, LA | 0.3 | 15 | $20,000 | ||
| February 17 | 11:59 AM CST | EF1 | Escambia, FL | 5.1 | 200 | $750,000 | ||
| February 17 | 12:14 PM CST | EF1 | Santa Rosa, FL | 2.1 | 75 | $200,000 | ||
| February 17 | 12:26 PM CST | EF2 | Dallas, AL | 7.6 | 400 | $350,000 | ||
| February 17 | 1:04 PM CST | EF2 | Escambia, AL | 14.4 | 500 | $950,000 | ||
| February 17 | 1:05 PM CST | EF1 | Chilton, AL | 1.2 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| February 17 | 1:42 PM CST | EF1 | Coosa, AL | 10.8 | 100 | $105,000 | ||
| February 17 | 1:47 PM CST | EF0 | Tallapoosa, AL | 4.5 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:03 PM CST | EF0 | Clay, AL | 1.6 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:17 PM CST | EF1 | Coffee, AL | 1.2 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:22 PM CST | EF1 | Randolph, AL | 14.7 | 150 | $100,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:23 PM CST | EF1 | Pike, AL | 8.4 | 250 | $60,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:24 PM CST | EF2 | Lowndes, AL | 11.0 | 225 | 10 | $215,000 | |
| February 17 | 3:52 PM EST | EF1 | Carroll, GA | 4.0 | 150 | $150,000 | ||
| February 17 | 2:58 PM CST | EF3 | Autauga, AL | 14.7 | 440 | 50 | $10 million | |
| February 17 | 3:40 PM CST | EF2 | Russell, AL to GA | 17.1 | 1,000 | 4 | $140,000 | |
| February 17 | 5:05 PM EST | EF0 | Chattahoochee, GA | 48.5 | 100 | $310,000 | ||
| February 17 | 4:17 PM CST | EF1 | Barbour, AL | 21.4 | 75 | $35,000 | ||
| February 17 | 4:38 PM CST | EF0 | Barbour, AL | 0.4 | 300 | $6,000 | ||
| February 17 | 6:18 PM EST | EF1 | Crawford, GA | 10.0 | 250 | 8 | $550,000 | |
| February 17 | 7:01 PM EST | EF0 | Jones, GA | 2.4 | 50 | $50,000 |
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.