Tornadoes · United States · Alabama · 2009

EF0 tornado, Whitsitt to Rosemary, Alabama, April 19, 2009

From Whitsitt to Rosemary, this EF0 tornado ran 3.6 miles across Hale County on April 19, 2009, touching down at 5:52 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $15,000 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
April 19, 2009
Touchdown
5:52 PM CDT (22:52 UTC)
Lifted
6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
3.6 miles (5.7 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$15,000
County
Hale County
Touchdown point
32.626, -87.595
Lift-off point
32.645, -87.538
Record number
0904191652-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A powerful spring storm system and associated cold front brought numerous thunderstorms to central Alabama. Many of the storms produced large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes.

The tornado touched down just to the west of AL-25 about 1 1/2 miles north of the the town of Whitsitt. It then traveled east-northeast over County Road 47 and lifted just to the east of AL-61, south of the County Road 24 intersection. About 50 trees were snapped or uprooted, and a metal roof was peeled off of an outbuilding.

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

The warnings

13 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:39 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:23 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
09:36 UTC23:00 UTCLake Wind AdvisoryBMX
19:23 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchBMX
20:21 UTC20:34 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX
21:29 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBMX
22:39 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningBMX
00:28 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningBMX
01:10 UTC01:46 UTCTornado WarningBMX

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 20:01 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

10.9 hours before the tornado, 95 km from the path. April 19, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2009-04-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -83959, lifted condensation level 2056 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 12:00Z on 2009-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 109 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83959 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2056 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Birmingham, AL (KBMX), 00:00Z

1.1 hours after it, 95 km from the path. April 20, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2009-04-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 225 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 490 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Birmingham, AL at 00:00Z on 2009-04-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 466 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
225 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
141 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
466 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
529 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
2.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Birmingham radar (KBMX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
20:35 UTCHAIL 0.7511 Sw TuscaloosaTuscaloosa, ALDIME TO PENNY SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF FOXFIRE RD AND SIPSEY VALLEY RD IN ROMULUS.
20:35 UTCHAIL 0.7511 Sw TuscaloosaTuscaloosa, ALDIME TO PENNY SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED AT THE INTERSECTION OF FOXFIRE ROAD AND SIPSEY VALLEY ROAD IN ROMULUS.
21:58 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Wsw Lake WildwoodTuscaloosa, ALTREE DOWN ON CLEMENTS RD NEAR THE EASTERN HILLS SUBDIVISION.
22:22 UTCTORNADO 05 S GreensboroHale, AL40 TO 50 SOFTWOOD TREES SNAPPED. OUTBUILDING AND BARN SUSTAINED DAMAGE.
22:52 UTCTORNADO 03 W NewbernHale, ALTWO BARNS SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE, ONE HOME SUFFERED PARTIAL ROOF DAMAGE AND HUNDREDS OF TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NORTH OF COUNTY ROAD 16 ALONG HIGHWAY 25 IN WHITSITT.
22:55 UTCTORNADO5 W NewbernHale, ALTORNADO REPORTED ON THE GROUND NEAR CEDARVILLE.
23:00 UTCTORNADO2 Ne NewbernPerry, ALSIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO TWO BARNS...ONE HOME WITH PARTIAL ROOF DAMAGE...HUNDREDS OF TREES DOWN NORTH OF COUNTY ROAD 16 ALONG HIGHWAY 25 IN WHITSITT.
23:00 UTCTORNADO3 W NewbernHale, ALTWO BARNS SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE, ONE HOME SUFFERED PARTIAL ROOF DAMAGE AND HUNDREDS OF TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN NORTH OF COUNTY ROAD 16 ALONG HIGHWAY 25 IN WHITSITT.
23:04 UTCTORNADO 14 Ne NewbernPerry, ALEF-1. 50-100 SOFTWOOD TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONE HOME SUSTAINED SHINGLE DAMAGE.
23:04 UTCTORNADO4 Ne NewbernPerry, ALEF-1. 50-100 SOFTWOOD TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONE HOME SUSTAINED SHINGLE DAMAGE.
23:25 UTCTORNADO2 N MarionPerry, ALNUMEROUS TREES DOWN ALONG COUNTY ROAD 7, 48, 24 AND HIGHWAY 5. MINOR ROOF DAMAGE TO 2 HOMES ON HIGHWAY 5...2 MILES NORTH OF THE CITY OF MARION.
23:28 UTCTORNADO 13 N MarionPerry, ALAROUND 100 TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. AND HOME HOEM SUSTAINED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE.
23:28 UTCTORNADO 13 N MarionPerry, ALA TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ABOUT 1/2 MILE WEST OF COUNTY ROAD 7, NORTH OF THE COUNTY ROAD 7/24 SPLIT. THE TORNADO TRAVELED EAST-NORTHEAST CROSSING OVER COUNTY ROAD 5 AND LIFTING ABOUT 2 1/2 MILES SOUTH OF COUNTY ROAD 16. ALO
00:50 UTCHAIL 0.25WedgeworthHale, ALPEA SIZE HAIL REPORTED IN THE CORNER OF HIGHWAY 14 AND 60 IN WEDGEWORTH.
00:50 UTCHAIL 0.25WedgeworthHale, ALPEA SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED ON THE CORNER OF HIGHWAY 14 AND HIGHWAY 60 IN WEDGEWORTH.
01:05 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDSawyervilleHale, ALA FUNNEL WAS REPORTED NEAR THE TOWN SAWYERVILLE.
01:05 UTCTORNADOSawyervilleHale, ALFUNNEL REPORTED NEAR THE TOWN SAWYERVILLE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 19, 2009

18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 196:03 PM CDTEF0Lawrence, AL1.325$18,000
April 196:04 PM CDTEF1Perry, AL4.050$10,000
April 196:16 PM CDTEF0Shelby, AL2.0800$20,000
April 196:18 PM CDTEF1Lawrence, AL4.467$30,000
April 196:28 PM CDTEF1Perry, AL1.2100$30,000
April 196:43 PM CDTEF0Morgan, AL2.050$25,000
April 196:53 PM CDTEF0Shelby, AL3.3100$10,000
April 196:58 PM CDTEF0Morgan, AL0.550$20,000
April 198:10 PM CDTEF0Montgomery, AL0.1150$12,000
April 198:20 PM CDTEF1Montgomery, AL0.150$30,000
April 198:35 PM CDTEF1Marshall, AL3.06011
April 198:36 PM CDTEF0Bullock, AL0.150$5,000
April 198:59 PM CDTEF2Blount, AL6.3300$400,000
April 199:03 PM CDTEF0DeKalb, AL1.150$17,000
April 199:16 PM CDTEF1DeKalb, AL5.315013
April 199:21 PM CDTEF1St. Clair, AL2.975$20,000
April 1911:00 PM EDTEF1Cherokee, GA1.58802$5.0 million
April 1910:33 PM CDTEF2Muscogee, AL to GA3.5250$3.5 million

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.