Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008
EF1 tornado, Shottsville to Thorn Hill, Alabama, May 10, 2008
From Shottsville to Thorn Hill, this EF1 tornado ran 25.5 miles across Marion County on May 10, 2008, touching down at 11:18 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.
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
- May 10, 2008
- Touchdown
- 11:18 PM CDT (04:18 UTC)
- Lifted
- 11:53 PM CDT (04:53 UTC)
- On the ground
- 35 minutes
- Path length
- 25.5 miles (41.0 km)
- Path width
- 400 yards (366 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $100,000
- County
- Marion County
- Touchdown point
- 34.240, -88.165
- Lift-off point
- 34.196, -87.722
- Record number
- 0805102218-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A strengthening low pressure system, and associated cold front, caused numerous severe thunderstorms and several tornadoes across Central Alabama.
The tornado spun up very quickly about 2.5 miles southwest of the Shottsville Community along County Road 13, between Reedy Branch Road and CR-154. The tornado then tracked just south of due east for almost the entire length of Marion County, with a slight left turn noted near the middle of the path. The tornado crossed CR-11, SR-19, SR-187, US-43, and SR-253, before lifting along CR-34. The tornado remained mostly in a heavily forested area, and thousands of trees were either snapped off or uprooted. Several mobile homes and one carport sustained varying degrees of damage along the path.
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 00:08 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:08 UTC | 07:00 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 03:55 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 04:20 UTC | 05:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 04:44 UTC | 05:23 UTC | Tornado Warning | BMX |
| 05:01 UTC | 08:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | BMX |
| 05:38 UTC | 06:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BMX |
| 07:31 UTC | 08:48 UTC | Tornado Watch | BMX |
| 15:00 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 00:56 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), 00:00Z
4.3 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. May 11, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2301 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -22 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2725 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 691 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 136 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 163 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 5.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.7 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 12:00Z
7.7 hours after it, 158 km from the path. May 11, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -58639 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 109 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1022 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 70 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -21 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.4
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.3 K/km
The radar
The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 04:18 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 2 Sw Shotsville | Marion, AL | THOUSANDS OF TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN OR WERE SNAPPED OFF ALONG THE DAMAGE PATH. SEVERAL MOBILE HOMES SUFFERED DAMAGE AND ONE CARPORT WAS DAMAGED. PATH LENGTH WAS AROUND 25 MILES. |
| 04:20 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 12 W Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED BY PUBLIC EAST OF HIGHWAY 72 AND 247 INTERSECTION NEAR THE PRIDE COMMUNITY. |
| 04:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | TREE DOWN AT 1ST AND JEFFERSON ST |
| 04:26 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | TREE DOWN AT FRANKFORT AND FLATWOOD RD |
| 04:28 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | TREE DOWN AT W 3RD ST |
| 04:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | POWERLINES AND TREES REPORTED DOWN IN WESTERN PORTIONS OF TUSCUMBIA. |
| 04:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 12 Nw Hamilton | Marion, AL | TREES HAVE BEEN BLOWN DOWN NEAR THE SCHOTSVILLE COMMUNITY. |
| 04:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | TREE REPORTED DOWN ON HOUSE IN NORTHWESTERN PORTION OF TUSCUMBIA. |
| 04:40 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Hamilton | Marion, AL | DIME TO PENNY SIZE HAIL WAS FALLING IN HAMILTON. |
| 04:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | POWER LINES DOWN ON COVE RD |
| 04:49 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Hackleburg | Marion, AL | DIME TO PENNY SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN HACKLEBURG. |
| 04:49 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Tuscumbia | Colbert, AL | TREE DOWN AT KELLER QUARRY RD AND WALKER CAMP RD |
| 04:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Double Springs | Winston, AL | MINOR ROOF DAMAGE AT DOUBLE SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. |
| 04:58 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | Bear Creek | Marion, AL | HAM RADIO OPERATOR REPORTED 60 MPH WIND GUST NEAR BEAR CREEK. |
| 04:58 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 S Russellville | Franklin, AL | TREE KNOCKED DOWN 6 MILES SOUTH OF RUSSELLVILLE ON US 43 IN THE SPRUCE PINE AREA. |
| 05:06 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | 5 N Haleyville | Winston, AL | DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED 5 MILES NORTH OF HALEYVILLE ON FRANKLIN/WINSTON COUNTY LINE. |
| 05:06 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 7 Ese Phil Campbell | Franklin, AL | DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED 5 MILES NORTH OF HALEYVILLE. |
| 05:06 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 8 Ese Phil Campbell | Winston, AL | DIME SIZE HAIL REPORTED 5 MILES NORTH OF HALEYVILLE. |
| 05:13 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 S Belgreen | Franklin, AL | TREE REPORTED DOWN ON AL HIGHWAY 187 AND COUNTY ROAD 52 |
| 05:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Moulton | Lawrence, AL | LARGE TREE REPORTED DOWN ON COUNTY ROAD 170, 2 MILES OFF OF COUNTY ROAD 157. |
| 05:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Curry | Walker, AL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. POSSIBLE TORNADO. |
| 05:30 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 2 Nne Blackwater Creek | Walker, AL | NUMEROUS TREES WERE EITHER SNAPPED OFF OR UPROOTED ALONG THE PATH. SEVERAL STRUCTURES SUFFERED VARYING DEGREES OF DAMAGE. DAMAGE PATH BEGAN NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF BIRDFARM ROAD AND SNOW LAKE ROAD AND ENDED NEAR THE CUL |
| 05:38 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Double Springs | Winston, AL | STRUCTURAL DAMAGE REPORTED IN DOUBLE SPRINGS. |
| 05:41 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Jasper | Walker, AL | TREE DOWN AND POWER OUTAGES AT 1911 BENNET ROAD IN JASPER. |
| 05:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Sulligent | Lamar, AL | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN. |
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 May 10, 2008
36 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 10 | 1:28 PM CDT | EF0 | Washington, AR | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 5:03 PM CDT | EF2 | Pittsburg, OK | 8.2 | 200 | $500,000 | ||
| May 10 | 5:15 PM CDT | EF0 | Labette, KS | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 5:19 PM CDT | EF0 | McIntosh, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 5:19 PM CDT | EF0 | Labette, KS | 1.0 | 60 | |||
| May 10 | 5:19 PM CDT | EF0 | Cherokee, KS | 2.0 | 150 | $10,000 | ||
| May 10 | 5:20 PM CDT | EF4 | Picher–Neosho tornado, Oklahoma and Missouri | 75.5 | 1,760 | 21 | 350 | $61 million |
| May 10 | 5:21 PM CDT | EF0 | Pittsburg, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 5:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Pittsburg, OK | 0.5 | 75 | |||
| May 10 | 5:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Mayes, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 5:34 PM CDT | EF0 | Latimer, OK | 5.5 | 100 | |||
| May 10 | 5:42 PM CDT | EF2 | Pittsburg, OK | 19.0 | 580 | 4 | $1.2 million | |
| May 10 | 5:48 PM CDT | EF1 | Ottawa, OK | 2.3 | 200 | |||
| May 10 | 6:05 PM CDT | EF2 | Pushmataha, OK | 3.5 | 100 | $75,000 | ||
| May 10 | 6:08 PM CDT | EF1 | Jasper, MO | 3.0 | 440 | 1 | 10 | $1.0 million |
| May 10 | 6:30 PM CDT | EF1 | Pushmataha, OK | 1.5 | 200 | |||
| May 10 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Pushmataha, OK | 0.5 | 100 | |||
| May 10 | 6:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Benton, AR | 1.5 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| May 10 | 6:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Barry, MO | 3.8 | 800 | |||
| May 10 | 7:05 PM CDT | EF0 | McCurtain, OK | 0.4 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 7:14 PM CDT | EF1 | White, AR | 9.2 | 350 | $25,000 | ||
| May 10 | 7:42 PM CDT | EF0 | White, AR | 0.0 | 8 | |||
| May 10 | 7:47 PM CDT | EF1 | Lonoke, AR | 2.7 | 400 | |||
| May 10 | 7:51 PM CDT | EF0 | Franklin, AR | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 7:55 PM CDT | EF1 | Sevier, AR | 1.5 | 100 | $250,000 | ||
| May 10 | 7:57 PM CDT | EF1 | Woodruff, AR | 10.2 | 500 | $90,000 | ||
| May 10 | 7:57 PM CDT | EF3 | Arkansas, AR | 14.1 | 1,320 | 9 | $75 million | |
| May 10 | 8:26 PM CDT | EF1 | Monroe, AR | 4.4 | 700 | $25,000 | ||
| May 10 | 9:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Hempstead, AR | 1.0 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| May 10 | 9:32 PM CDT | EF1 | Nevada, AR | 2.4 | 50 | |||
| May 10 | 9:33 PM CDT | EF1 | Quitman, MS | 0.3 | 30 | $25,000 | ||
| May 10 | 10:15 PM CDT | EF1 | Tallahatchie, MS | 8.7 | 100 | 2 | $185,000 | |
| May 10 | 11:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Lauderdale, AL | 1.6 | 250 | $100,000 | ||
| May 10 | 11:59 PM CDT | EF1 | Lauderdale, AL | 1.0 | 250 | $5,000 | ||
| May 10 | 12:27 AM CDT | EF1 | Walker, AL | 9.3 | 400 | $20,000 | ||
| May 10 | 12:37 AM CDT | EF2 | Walker, AL | 13.5 | 330 | $155,000 |
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.