Tornadoes · United States · Alabama

2009 tornadoes in Alabama

80 tornadoes touched down in Alabama in 2009, 127 percent above the average of the record for the state. They killed 1 people and injured 25.

2008 2010 The whole country in 2009

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 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.

Every tornado in Alabama in 2009

January 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
January 10	5:05 PM CST	EF1	Washington	1.6	200			$2.5 million

February 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 18	6:55 PM CST	EF1	Randolph	0.8	500			$10,000

February 27 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
February 27	10:10 AM CST	EF0	Shelby	1.8	25			$5,000
February 27	3:56 PM CST	EF0	Hale	0.0	20			$500

February 28 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
February 28	7:40 AM CST	EF0	Tallapoosa	0.3	100		$10,000
February 28	7:56 AM CST	EF1	Lee	0.3	100		$65,000
February 28	8:25 AM CST	EF2	Lee	8.3	500	3	$1.1 million

March 26 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
March 26	3:20 AM CDT	EF1	Fayette	3.6	100	$60,000
March 26	5:04 AM CDT	EF0	Shelby	3.7	35	$15,000
March 26	6:55 AM CDT	EF1	Escambia	2.4	1,000	$30,000

March 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
March 28	8:11 PM CDT	EF0	Jackson	1.6	40			$15,000
March 28	8:16 PM CDT	EF1	DeKalb	2.5	50			$20,000

April 2 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 2	3:15 PM CDT	EF0	Lamar	0.0	10
April 2	3:43 PM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa	0.6	150	$5,000
April 2	3:46 PM CDT	EF1	Colbert	0.3	75	$33,000
April 2	4:35 PM CDT	EF0	Limestone	1.7	50	$11,000
April 2	5:26 PM CDT	EF1	Morgan	1.2	200	$66,000
April 2	8:09 PM CDT	EF0	Madison	0.6	50	$8,000

April 10 11 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
April 10	5:38 AM CDT	EF0	Marshall	2.0	200		$16,000
April 10	1:59 PM CDT	EF0	Limestone	0.2	10		$20,000
April 10	3:02 PM CDT	EF3	Marshall	32.5	440	5
April 10	7:12 PM CDT	EF1	Tallapoosa	10.1	250		$52,000
April 10	7:30 PM CDT	EF1	Lee	5.5	300		$150,000
April 10	7:51 PM CDT	EF1	Lee	2.2	100		$30,000
April 10	8:04 PM CDT	EF1	Russell	5.9	150		$10,000
April 10	8:19 PM CDT	EF1	Russell	1.0	50	2	$120,000
April 10	8:26 PM CDT	EF1	Macon	25.5	440		$210,000
April 10	8:48 PM CDT	EF1	Montgomery	26.1	440		$366,000
April 10	9:20 PM CDT	EF1	Russell	0.5	150	1	$50,000

April 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 13	8:00 AM CDT	EF0	Geneva	0.3	50			$150,000

April 19 18 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	5:52 PM CDT	EF0	Hale	3.6	25			$15,000
April 19	6:03 PM CDT	EF0	Lawrence	1.3	25			$18,000
April 19	6:04 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	4.0	50			$10,000
April 19	6:16 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	2.0	800			$20,000
April 19	6:18 PM CDT	EF1	Lawrence	4.4	67			$30,000
April 19	6:28 PM CDT	EF1	Perry	1.2	100			$30,000
April 19	6:43 PM CDT	EF0	Morgan	2.0	50			$25,000
April 19	6:53 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	3.3	100			$10,000
April 19	6:58 PM CDT	EF0	Morgan	0.5	50			$20,000
April 19	8:10 PM CDT	EF0	Montgomery	0.1	150			$12,000
April 19	8:20 PM CDT	EF1	Montgomery	0.1	50			$30,000
April 19	8:35 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	3.0	60	1	1
April 19	8:36 PM CDT	EF0	Bullock	0.1	50			$5,000
April 19	8:59 PM CDT	EF2	Blount	6.3	300			$400,000
April 19	9:03 PM CDT	EF0	DeKalb	1.1	50			$17,000
April 19	9:16 PM CDT	EF1	DeKalb	5.3	150		13
April 19	9:21 PM CDT	EF1	St. Clair	2.9	75			$20,000
April 19	10:33 PM CDT	EF2	Muscogee to GA	3.5	250			$3.5 million

May 2 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 2	5:20 PM CDT	EF0	Fayette	0.1	30
May 2	5:27 PM CDT	EF0	Lamar	2.5	50			$5,000

May 3 7 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 3	1:32 PM CDT	EF1	Hale	0.1	50	$75,000
May 3	1:54 PM CDT	EF0	Shelby	2.6	200	$120,000
May 3	2:03 PM CDT	EF1	Shelby	1.4	300	$10,000
May 3	2:15 PM CDT	EF1	St. Clair	0.9	100	$60,000
May 3	2:27 PM CDT	EF1	St. Clair	16.6	800	$100,000
May 3	3:40 PM CDT	EF1	Marshall	0.3	50	$20,000
May 3	6:00 PM CDT	EF1	Madison	1.6	75	$30,000

May 6 12 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 6	8:20 AM CDT	EF1	Pickens	1.0	300	$50,000
May 6	8:25 AM CDT	EF1	Lawrence	3.2	75	$250,000
May 6	8:31 AM CDT	EF1	Pickens	1.3	100	$50,000
May 6	8:42 AM CDT	EF0	Morgan	0.7	75	$50,000
May 6	8:48 AM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa	0.5	100	$65,000
May 6	8:57 AM CDT	EF1	Tuscaloosa	0.2	100	$100,000
May 6	8:59 AM CDT	EF2	Limestone	10.9	75	$1.0 million
May 6	9:11 AM CDT	EF0	Walker	3.4	200	$850,000
May 6	9:20 AM CDT	EF1	Walker	1.0	300	$260,000
May 6	9:24 AM CDT	EF0	Walker	0.2	75	$25,000
May 6	9:45 AM CDT	EF0	Blount	0.1	30	$2,000
May 6	9:50 AM CDT	EF1	Jefferson	0.4	50	$50,000

May 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	1:55 PM CDT	EF0	Autauga	0.4	50			$10,000
May 23	4:59 PM CDT	EF0	Lee	1.2	50			$100,000

June 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 3	12:48 PM CDT	EF0	Madison	0.1	20

June 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	10:25 AM CDT	EF1	Lawrence	0.8	150

June 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 28	4:50 PM CDT	EF0	Marshall	1.3	50			$18,000

July 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 28	7:55 PM CDT	EF0	Limestone	0.2	30

September 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 16	10:58 AM CDT	EF0	Chilton	0.7	30			$10,000

October 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 7	1:30 AM CDT	EF0	Lawrence	0.8	25			$30,000

October 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 30	5:24 PM CDT	EF1	Marion	2.8	200			$75,000

December 14 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
December 14	4:20 PM CST	EF0	Coffee	0.1	30
December 14	4:25 PM CST	EF0	Dale	0.1	50

Nearby

Every tornado in Alabama since 1950 Warnings in force in Alabama The live radar over Alabama

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.