EF1 tornado, Scott Station to Marion, Alabama, April 19, 2009

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

April 19, 2009

Touchdown

6:04 PM CDT (23:04 UTC)

Lifted

6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$10,000

County

Perry County

Touchdown point

32.644, -87.496

Lift-off point

32.649, -87.428

Record number

0904191704-01

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 on Luke Jackson Road, just east of AL-61. From there, it traveled to the east-northeast, crossing over several dirt roads before lifting near Webb Road. Along the path, several large hardwood trees were uprooted and snapped, and softwoods were snapped. One home sustained minor shingle damage near the beginning of the path. A large deer stand was destroyed near the end of the path.

The tornado touched down in a wooded ravine, between Nichols Lane and CR-7. It then traveled east-northeast for just over a mile, and lifted near the intersection of Coles Truck Stop Road and AL-5. Along the path, approximately 100 hardwood trees were snapped, and near the end of the path, several hardwoods were uprooted. A home sustained minor damage to shingles and siding. The occupant of the home took refuge in a closet, and was unharmed, after her brother called to inform her of the tornado warning.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS BMX issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:39 UTC, 25 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 01:45 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 0.05 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 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 Birmingham radar (KBMX), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:02 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 2009 tornado in AlabamaEvery tornado in Alabama since 1950Warnings in force in Alabama nowThe forecast where you are

18 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.