Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2008
EF0 tornado, Oak Ridge, Alabama, May 8, 2008
This EF0 tornado ran 0.9 miles across Morgan County on May 8, 2008, touching down at 2:15 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
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
- EF0
- Date
- May 8, 2008
- Touchdown
- 2:15 PM CDT (19:15 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:17 PM CDT (19:17 UTC)
- On the ground
- 2 minutes
- Path length
- 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- County
- Morgan County
- Touchdown point
- 34.478, -87.002
- Lift-off point
- 34.488, -86.993
- Record number
- 0805081315-01
What the Weather Service recorded
A quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) produced no less than five tornadoes and damaging thunderstorm winds across northern Alabama during the late morning through mid afternoon hours.
A tornado with peak winds speeds of 95 mph touched down near Goose Pond Road northwest of Hartselle, tracking northeast near Norris Mill Road to around Macabee Drive. The tornado uprooted multiple medium to large trees, including one of 4-foot diameter. Several smaller trees and branches were snapped.
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 17:40 UTC and running to 20:55 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:08 UTC | 17:40 UTC | Tornado Watch | HUN |
| 17:40 UTC | 20:55 UTC | Tornado Watch | HUN |
| 18:23 UTC | 19:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | HUN |
| 19:27 UTC | 20:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HUN |
| 19:54 UTC | 20:18 UTC | Tornado Warning | HUN |
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 0.10 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 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
7.3 hours before the tornado, 146 km from the path. May 8, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 212 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -132 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 148 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 567 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 63 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 193 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 216 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 2.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.5 K/km
Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z
4.7 hours after it, 146 km from the path. May 9, 2008.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 596 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -30 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 445 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 532 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 73 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 157 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.5
- Supercell composite
- 4.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The surface observations
Decatur/Pryor Field (DCU), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:19 UTC | 69.8 | 64.4 | 170° 12 kt | 20 | 1005.1 | -RA |
| 17:53 UTC | 70 | 65 | 160° 13 kt | 1004.1 | -RA | |
| 18:41 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 170° 13 kt | 19 | 1004.1 | VCTS -RA |
| 18:53 UTC | 70 | 66 | 190° 10 kt | 20 | 1004.1 | VCTS -RA BR |
| 19:04 UTC | 69.8 | 66.2 | 260° 18 kt | 23 | 1005.1 | TSRA BR |
| 19:07 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 260° 11 kt | 23 | 1005.1 | +TSRA BR |
| 19:14 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 260° 9 kt | 18 | 1004.4 | TSRA FG |
| 19:17 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 260° 9 kt | 15 | 1004.1 | RA BR |
| 19:24 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 260° 11 kt | 1004.4 | RA BR | |
| 19:29 UTC | 64.4 | 62.6 | 300° 8 kt | 1004.4 | +RA BR | |
| 19:36 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 290° 5 kt | 14 | 1004.1 | +RA BR |
| 19:41 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 0° 0 kt | 1004.1 | +RA BR | |
| 19:48 UTC | 62.6 | 62.6 | 150° 3 kt | 1004.1 | -RA BR | |
| 19:53 UTC | 64 | 63 | 150° 3 kt | 1003.7 | RA BR | |
| 20:07 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 160° 4 kt | 1003.7 | ||
| 20:17 UTC | 64.4 | 64.4 | 160° 7 kt | 1003.7 | ||
| 20:53 UTC | 67 | 65 | 170° 6 kt | 1003.7 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Northeast Alabama radar (KHTX), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Town Creek | Lawrence, AL | ONE CABIN TOTALLY DESTROYED WITH ROOF DAMAGE TO OTHER CABINS AT THE DOUBLE HEAD RESORT IN TOWN CREEK. |
| 17:53 UTC | TORNADO 2 | 3 Nnw Town Creek | Lawrence, AL | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY BY A NWS TEAM FOUND DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH AN EF2 FROM LEIGHTON TO ROGERSVILLE, ALABAMA. SURVEILLANCE CAMERA FROM AN EQUIPMENT COMPANY NORTHEAST OF LEIGHTON CAPTURED A TORNADO PICKING UP AT LEAST |
| 17:53 UTC | TORNADO | Ne Leighton | Colbert, AL | TORNADO TOUCHDOWN AND HOUSE HEAVILY DAMAGED ON LAWRENCE/COLBERT CO LINES ALONG HWY 184 NE OF LEIGHTON. ANOTHER HOUSE ON RIVER RD. ALSO HEAVILY DAMAGED. |
| 17:59 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Leighton | Colbert, AL | POWERLINES DOWN ON FOSTER MILL RD IN LEIGHTON. |
| 18:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 2 N Rogersville | Lauderdale, AL | TWO FOOT DIAMETER TREE BLOWN DOWN 2 MILES N OF ROGERSVILLE. |
| 18:42 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 N Smith Dam | Winston, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO...MULTIPLE TREES DOWN. |
| 19:02 UTC | TORNADO | 2 Sse Lake Shore | Walker, AL | THE TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST SOUTHEAST OF THE MARYLEE COMMUNITY, IN EXTREME NORTHEAST WALKER COUNTY. FROM THERE IT MOVED EASTWARD, ACROSS SMITH LAKE, AND CONTINUED INTO CULLMAN COUNTY. IN WALKER COUNTY, THIS TORNADO DAM |
| 19:05 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 N Smith Dam | Winston, AL | POSSIBLE TORNADO...MULTIPLE TREES DOWN. |
| 19:12 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Bremen | Cullman, AL | DAMAGE REPORTED IN SW PORTION OF CULLMAN COUNTY. FOUR CHICKEN HOUSES DAMAGED...NUMEROUS TREES DOWN...AND A FEW CAMPERS DAMAGED. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 19:12 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 5 Wnw Wilburn | Cullman, AL | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY FROM A NWS TEAM FOUND DAMAGE FROM AN EF1 TORNADO IN THREE DISTINCT...THOUGH NOT CONTINUOUS...SEGMENTS FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST OF THE CITY OF CULLMAN. SEVERAL LARGE TREES WERE SNAPPED AND UPRO |
| 19:18 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Sw Cullman | Cullman, AL | TREES DOWN AND POWER OUT ALONG CR 327 AND SMITH LAKE. |
| 19:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | E Hartselle | Morgan, AL | TREES DOWN IN THE OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY BETWEEN HARTSELLE AND DECATUR. |
| 19:35 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Danville | Morgan, AL | TRAILER TURNED OVER AND A TREE BLOWN DOWN ONTO A HOUSE IN DANVILLE. |
| 19:36 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Cullman | Cullman, AL | NUMEROUS POWER OUTAGES ACROSS THE COUNTY. ALSO REPORTED TREES BLOWN DOWN AND ROOF DAMAGE TO HOMES ALONG HWY 378 IN CULLMAN DUE TO A POSSIBLE TORNADO. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 19:38 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 5 W Triana | Limestone, AL | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY A NWS TEAM FOUND AN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN THE VICINITY OF COUNTY LINE ROAD JUST NORTH OF THE TENNESSEE RIVER OR MORE SPECIFICALLY ALONG NEW HOPE ROAD IN EXTREME SE LIMESTONE CO |
| 19:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 E Hanceville | Cullman, AL | SHINGLES BLOWN OFF HOUSES AND LARGE TREES 2-3 FT. IN DIAMETER BLOWN OVER ALSO. TREES WERE 50 TO 60 FEET HIGH. |
| 19:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Madison | Madison, AL | TREES DOWN ON COUNTY LINE ROAD 2.5 MILES NORTH OF THE RIVER. |
| 19:40 UTC | NON-TSTM WND DMG | 5 S Cullman | Cullman, AL | SPOTTER IN DODGE CITY REPORTS A POSSIBLE WALL CLOUD APPROACHING CITY OF CULLMAN. |
| 19:42 UTC | TORNADO 0 | 3 Wnw Triana | Madison, AL | PRELIMINARY STORM SURVEY CONDUCTED BY A NWS TEAM CONCLUDED THAT AN EFO TORNADO CONTINUED INTO MADISON COUNTY ALONG COUNTY LINE ROAD SOUTH OF SWANCOTT ROAD...WHERE A LARGER AREA OF GRASS AND WHEAT WAS FLATTENED. MINOR TRE |
| 19:43 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Good Hope | Cullman, AL | TREE DOWN ON A HOME IN GOOD HOPE. DAMAGE IN SOUTHERN CULLMAN. TREES AND POWER LINES ALSO DOWN ON CR 222 NEAR TREMBLE. |
| 19:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 E Cullman | Cullman, AL | DEBRIS BLOCKING ROAD AT HWY 69/278 NEAR EASTPOINT. DAMAGE TO BURKS FARM ON HWY 69 NEAR SIMCOE ALSO. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 19:54 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Wsw Baileyton | Cullman, AL | PUBLIC REPORT OF TREES ON POWER LINES...TREES ACROSS THE ROAD...AND A TREE ON A MOBILE HOME ALONG HWY 69 NEAR FAIRVIEW. TIME ESTIMATED. |
| 20:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 E Cullman | Cullman, AL | DEBRIS BLOCKING ROAD AT HWY 69/278 NEAR EASTPOINT. DAMAGE TO BURKS FARM ON HWY 69 NEAR SIMCOE ALSO. |
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 8, 2008
28 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 8 | 8:01 AM CDT | EF3 | Lee, MS | 7.6 | 200 | $1.5 million | ||
| May 8 | 8:42 AM CDT | EF2 | Itawamba, MS | 1.4 | 100 | $150,000 | ||
| May 8 | 9:15 AM CDT | EF0 | Lafayette, MS | 2.2 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| May 8 | 11:57 AM CDT | EF1 | Lauderdale, AL | 8.0 | 200 | 2 | $300,000 | |
| May 8 | 12:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Lawrence, TN | 3.0 | 440 | $50,000 | ||
| May 8 | 12:39 PM CDT | EF2 | Lauderdale, AL | 12.6 | 250 | $555,000 | ||
| May 8 | 1:06 PM CDT | EF1 | Fayette, AL | 11.0 | 100 | $45,000 | ||
| May 8 | 1:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Giles, TN | 0.8 | 50 | |||
| May 8 | 1:49 PM CDT | EF0 | Wichita, KS | 2.0 | 25 | |||
| May 8 | 2:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Walker, AL | 3.3 | 600 | $120,000 | ||
| May 8 | 2:20 PM CDT | EF1 | Cullman, AL | 3.3 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| May 8 | 1:27 PM MDT | EF0 | Greeley, KS | 5.0 | 100 | |||
| May 8 | 2:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Limestone, AL | 4.0 | 250 | $20,000 | ||
| May 8 | 2:40 PM CDT | EF1 | Cullman, AL | 6.6 | 100 | $50,000 | ||
| May 8 | 5:20 PM EDT | EF0 | Clinton, OH | 0.4 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| May 8 | 5:25 PM EDT | EF0 | Greene, OH | 0.1 | 10 | $1,000 | ||
| May 8 | 6:13 PM EDT | EF0 | Clark, OH | 0.2 | 10 | $1,000 | ||
| May 8 | 8:00 PM EDT | EF1 | Henry, VA | 0.9 | 75 | $165,000 | ||
| May 8 | 9:00 PM EDT | EF1 | Pittsylvania, VA | 0.8 | 60 | $116,000 | ||
| May 8 | 10:15 PM EDT | EF2 | Davie, NC | 3.2 | 100 | $200,000 | ||
| May 8 | 10:20 PM EDT | EF0 | Nelson, VA | 0.2 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| May 8 | 10:23 PM EDT | EF2 | Forsyth, NC | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| May 8 | 10:25 PM EDT | EF3 | Forsyth, NC | 2.9 | 300 | 2 | $2.5 million | |
| May 8 | 10:53 PM EDT | EF2 | Stafford, VA | 3.4 | 150 | $10 million | ||
| May 8 | 11:20 PM EDT | EF1 | Appomattox, VA | 0.7 | 50 | $25,000 | ||
| May 8 | 11:29 PM EDT | EF2 | Guilford, NC | 3.9 | 200 | 1 | 3 | $4.0 million |
| May 8 | 12:24 AM EDT | EF0 | Prince George's, MD | 0.5 | 50 | $100,000 | ||
| May 8 | 12:56 AM EDT | EF0 | Prince George's, MD | 0.5 | 100 | $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.