EF1 tornado, Bazemore to Kansas, Alabama, May 8, 2008

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

May 8, 2008

Touchdown

1:06 PM CDT (18:06 UTC)

Lifted

1:25 PM CDT (18:25 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

11.0 miles (17.8 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$45,000

Counties

Fayette and Walker counties

Touchdown point

33.865, -87.733

Lift-off point

33.902, -87.548

Record number

0805081206-01

A strong storm system and associated cold front swept through Central Alabama, causing numerous severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes.

The tornado initially touched down about two and a half miles southwest of the Bazemore Community, one mile north of the intersection of CR-50 and SR-129. The tornado then moved east-northeasward and crossed into Walker County near Barron Creek at State Highway 13. In Fayette County, this tornado destroyed one shed, and damaged another. Other damage in Fayette County was generally light, and confined mostly to snapped off and uprooted trees.

The tornado that had previously touched down in Fayette County crossed into Walker County near Barron Creek at SR-13. It then tracked east-northeastward to the Kansas Community, and lifted just before reaching US-78. In Walker County, numerous trees were snapped off and uprooted, including several very large trees in Kansas.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

1 minute of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:05 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:33 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:05 UTC and running to 19:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 15:39 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 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.

The Columbus AFB radar (KGWX), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:04 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.

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

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2008 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.